The cryptocurrency market has continued its positive run and has pushed higher over the last 24 hours, lifting its market capitalisation by 2.5% to US$452 billion according to Coin Market Cap.
This puts the value of the entire crypto market within sight of half a trillion U.S. dollar level.
One of the biggest drivers of this gain has been the performance of the Bitcoin (BTC) price once again.
At the time of writing the world's largest cryptocurrency is trading 4% higher over the last 24 hours to US$9,626 per coin. This has increased its market capitalisation to a sizeable US$163.8 billion.
But arguably the biggest driver has been the performance of the Ethereum (ETH) price. Although it has given back some of it gains now, the world's second largest cryptocurrency is up over 8% since this time yesterday to US$777 per token.
This means that Ethereum has put on a gain of over 90% in a month and its market capitalisation has lifted to just over US$77 billion.
Why is Ethereum climbing higher?
One key driver this week has been the bullish forecasts made by the co-founder of Reddit.
In an interview with Fortune, Alexis Ohanian tipped the cryptocurrency to hit US$1,500 per token by the end of the year.
Even after its stellar gain over the last month, this bullish forecast implies that Ethereum could almost double in value from here.
In addition to this, a couple of weeks ago Ether Capital listed on the Canadian stock exchange.
According to CoinDesk, Ether Capital raised C$45 million from the listing, which will mostly be converted into Ethereum. According to a press release on May 1, C$27 million of these funds has been used so far to buy coins, supporting the cryptocurrency's bullish run.
Where next for Ethereum?
Time will tell whether Ethereum will reach the US$1,500 touted by Ohanian this year but considering how positive sentiment is in the market at the moment, anything is possible.
But one thing that is for sure is that it will be a bumpy ride with plenty of wild swings to the upside and downside. This makes it a highly risky investment.
