The Ethereum market cap briefly topped $500 billion for a new all-time high. This officially made the network more valuable than Visa.

While the Ethereum market cap has dropped back slightly to $496 billion at the time of press, it’s still $2 billion ahead of Visa. Ethereum also managed to jump the market caps of both Walmart and the Wall Street banking giant JP Morgan Chase earlier this week.

Ethereum is currently up 9% on the day and is trading at $4,310. 

Bullish trends for Ethereum and altcoins

This past Monday morning Ethereum soared to a new all-time high, surpassing $4,000 for the first time. The upward trend of the altcoin king shows a growth of over 450% since the beginning of the year. While many altcoins continue to pump, bitcoin dominance (BTCD) has been sliding. Earlier this month, BTCD dropped below two long-term support levels.

However, momentous growth in the altcoin community has sparked excitement among investors. Within the booming crypto industry, Glassnode found that waves of investors seem to be moving Ethereum from centralized exchanges and platforms into the increasingly popular decentralized finance (DeFi) space. 

The performance of other altcoins has also been noticeable as a part of the bullish season. Cardano (ADA) hit a new high of $1.83 on May 9. This came almost a month after the developer’s showcased their upcoming work throughout Africa. 

Dogecoin has been blowing up the news as well. From being the first crypt currency to fund a space mission to Elon Musk’s SNL performance implications, the meme-inspired altcoin’s performance is on everyone’s radar.

Visa adds value to the Ethereum economy

Last month, some big news from Visa Inc. revealed that it plans to settle transactions in USD Coin (USDC) by using the Ethereum network. At the time, this caused a reactionary price hike of around 8%. The move helped to bolster the narrative of Ethereum as “ultra sound money” and added more activity to its network. 

A month and a half later, Ethereum’s market cap jump is a further indication of the altcoin’s validity within the wider financial industry.