Ethereum's current market cap is $523 billion, surpassing global payment card company Mastercard.

An unidentified institution has been accumulating ether, with ETH assets rising 21% in the past week, totaling 221,166 ETH purchased.

According to data analysis platform Lookonchain, this 'mysterious institution' purchased $212 million worth of ether within the past 24 hours.

The whale tracking agency stated that the entity uses six different wallets to store the ether it acquired from Galaxy Digital, FalconX, and BitGo. The wallet with the most ether is valued at $181 million, while the wallet with the least ether is valued at $128 million.

According to Glassnode, the number of ether addresses holding more than 10,000 ETH reached 868,886 on Saturday, the highest level in a year.

Ethereum's market cap surpasses Mastercard.

Ethereum's market cap soared to $523 billion on Monday, driven by a 21% increase in the price of ether over the past seven days, breaking the $4,000 mark. As of the time of this article's publication, it is trading at $4,332.

According to CompaniesMarketCap, the market cap of ether has surpassed that of payment giant Mastercard, which currently has a market cap of $519 billion.

CoinGecko reported on Saturday that in the past week, publicly traded companies with ether treasuries have increased their holdings by over 304,000 ether, worth over $1.3 billion.

BitMine Immersion Technologies purchased most of the ETH, acquiring over 208,000 ETH worth over $900 million in the past week, followed by SharpLink Gaming, which purchased ETH worth $303 million.

Analysts are optimistic about the price trend of ETH.

Technical analysts are also optimistic about ether, with some predicting that the asset may reach the $20,000 mark for the first time in the coming months.

Analyst Nilesh Verma stated that based on historical price fractals, ETH could reach the $20,000 milestone within the next six to eight months.

Meanwhile, technical analyst Merlijn The Trader predicts that the asset price could exceed $20,000 and may even go beyond that level.

On the other hand, some industry experts are warning investors.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin supports companies buying ether and holding their respective bonds; however, he warned that this should not turn into an 'over-leveraged game' that could lead to asset declines.