In a remarkable development that underscores the growing presence of digital currencies in the global economy, Ethereum has officially entered the list of the top 25 companies in terms of market capitalization in the world, surpassing giants like Netflix and Mastercard. Has 'Ether' become a real competitor to gold and major companies?
Ethereum pushes Netflix and Mastercard out of its way
During trading on August 11, the market value of Ethereum reached approximately $517 billion, surpassing both Netflix ($516.5 billion) and Mastercard ($514.2 billion), to rank 22nd globally in terms of market capitalization.
This qualitative leap reaffirms once again that the project launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin has become a major player alongside financial and technology giants. It is worth noting that Bitcoin ranks sixth globally with a market value exceeding $2.3 trillion, alongside Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
However, it should be noted that these rankings can change rapidly depending on price movements, which makes maintaining this position require continuous price stability for Ethereum.
Institutional investors are opening their coffers for Ethereum
The rise of Ethereum is not only due to its price increase of 17% over the week, but also due to the increasing influx of capital from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) targeting it. Financial institutions now consider Ethereum a strategic asset within their portfolios, which is quite similar to what we previously witnessed with Bitcoin at the beginning of past bull waves.
What's noteworthy here is that these investments are not merely speculative; some companies consider them part of their reserve funds.
Lubin: 'Ethereum could surpass Bitcoin in one year'
Joseph Lubin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum and CEO of ConsenSys, expressed great optimism about the future of the currency. In an interview with CNBC, he stated that Ethereum could surpass Bitcoin in market value within one year, attributing this to the increase in adoption of ETH by major companies and institutions within their financial systems.
But to reach the same level as Bitcoin currently, the price of Ethereum needs to reach about $20,000, which is still theoretically far off, but not impossible given the expansion in areas such as decentralized finance, asset tokenization, and the increasing use in launching stablecoins.
