The surge has helped Ethereum overtake institutions such as The Walt Disney Company and Bank of America in terms of total market cap. The world’s largest smart contract-enabled layer-one has grown 24% on the week to $346.72 billion, per tracking website Infinite Marketcap. By comparison, Bitcoin is presently sitting at a $1.079 trillion market cap, right below the total market cap of the precious metal silver at $1.416 trillion and above social media company Facebook at $923.12 billion.

Multiple headwinds share responsibility for Ethereum’s rise. The first is an ongoing surge in activity on the chain, including from institutional entities: earlier in the week the European Investment Bank announced it would be issuing a two-year digital bond worth $121 million in collaboration with banking entities such as Goldman Sachs. Retail interest in DeFi has also been rising as of late, with total value locked numbers reaching astonishing highs above $100 billion.