The price of Ether set a new record on April 3, crossing the $2,100 mark. According to CF Benchmarks, Ether hit $2,106 on the day, after more than a week of continuous gains.
The native token of the Ethereum network rose 32% from March 25, 10 days before its new price record.
Ether’s run-up to its new all-time high was marked by bullish news. Visa announced that it was running a trial that would let credit-card partners settle its accounts with USDC, a stablecoin built on Ethereum. The first such settlement was conducted by the exchange Crypto.com and announced on March 28.
The celebrity investor Mark Cuban made remarks on a podcast that indicated his long-term belief in Ether. Speaking on “The Delphi Podcast,” which is published by the cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital, Cuban said he believed Ether is the “closest we have to a true currency.”
Cuban explained that he thought smart contracts, a key feature of Ethereum, “changed the game” for him. They allow developers to create decentralized finance applications and non-fungible tokens. They also allow developers to iterate on new applications over time, making the Ethereum network akin to the internet itself.
Cuban said he started accumulating Ether four years ago, but wished he had “bought it sooner.”
Nevertheless, Cuban’s portfolio comprises 60% Bitcoin to 30% Ether, with other tokens making up the remainder. He said he saw Bitcoin as a gold substitute that he held for its store of value properties.
“If you could get people to believe that it was a better alternative than gold, because of its algorithmic scarcity, the price is going to go up,” he said. Cuban said he has never sold his Bitcoin, but didn’t say when he first bought the cryptocurrency.
Ether’s previous high was $1,960, set on Feb. 20. This means its new record price level has beaten its previous peak by seven basis points.