Ether hits record $4.9k, breaking 2021 all-time high

Ether reached a new all-time high on August 24, 2025, peaking at US$4,945.6, according to CoinGecko data.

The cryptocurrency, which powers the Ethereum blockchain, last set a record in November 2021 at US$4,878.

Recent gains are linked to increased interest from institutional investors, digital asset treasury firms, and more attention to ether ETFs.

🔗 Source: Axios

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Corporate treasury strategies expand beyond Bitcoin to include Ethereum

The emergence of companies like SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies copying MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury strategy represents a significant shift in corporate digital asset adoption 1.

MicroStrategy pioneered the corporate Bitcoin treasury model starting in 2020, and now some companies are exploring similar approaches with Ethereum 1.

This corporate buying pressure creates a new demand category beyond individual and institutional investors, potentially reducing the available supply of Ethereum in the market.

The trend suggests that corporate treasurers are beginning to view Ethereum not just as a speculative technology investment, but as a legitimate treasury asset alongside or alternative to Bitcoin.

2️⃣ Ethereum’s deflationary design creates scarcity during high network usage

Unlike Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million coin cap, Ethereum operates with what researchers call “neutral or even negative net issuance,” meaning new coin creation can be offset or exceeded by coins being permanently removed from circulation 1.

This occurs because Ethereum burns a portion of transaction fees, and during periods of high network activity, more coins can be destroyed than created through staking rewards.

The mechanism creates a fundamentally different supply dynamic than Bitcoin. While Bitcoin’s scarcity is predetermined, Ethereum’s scarcity fluctuates based on network demand and usage patterns.

This design makes Ethereum particularly sensitive to adoption cycles, as increased usage of smart contracts and decentralized applications directly impacts the coin supply, potentially creating stronger price support during bull markets than cryptocurrencies with fixed inflation rates.