Ethereum pigs out

Ethereum, the largest crypto that isn't Bitcoin, for a third consecutive day nailed a new all-time high, this time just under $2,490. As of Thursday morning at 8 a.m. (EST), ETH had risen 1.4% over a 24-hour period, during which the Ethereum blockchain underwent a road-to-2.0 software upgrade aimed at reducing fees.

Wednesday was a digitalized fever dream across the financial landscape, a captivating set piece with supporting actor ETH chewing up scenery, rallying 8% at one point yesterday, and with its market-cap now firmly ratcheted above one-quarter trillion.

Crypto's beautiful blossom in the first quarter of 2021 has turned into a brightly colored freak-of-nature hydrangea of a second quarter.

But a cold front just blew in.

The chill came on suddenly if not unexpectedly. We could have sworn we saw XRP cross $2 yesterday or was that a hallucination? As of Thursday at 8 a.m. XRP was $1.72, 5% lower than it was 24 hours earlier.

Dogecoin, DOGE, here boy, where is that cute little meme-based coin. Is it not at $0.14, a new ATH? DOGE indeed had raced to a new record high earlier but quickly fell back to 13 cents.

Bitcoin on Tuesday recorded a new record high, surging above $63,000. Yesterday, BTC recorded another ATH, getting to roughly $64,800. Today at last check BTC was about $62,500. BTC has declined 2.3% over the past day.

A landmark direct listing making the crypto industry's mainstream bones, COIN got to $381 a share on Wednesday and closed at $328.

Now what?

At about 7:30 a.m., COIN shares jumped 8% in pre-market trading, a concept to which the crypto community pays no mind.

Some analysts have logically speculated COIN will move higher in the wake of its publicized debut … before it eventually moves lower.

The expectations management dance thus begins. Bears will pounce on the first sign of revenue shrinkage (perhaps at the hands of DeFi, ironically) or/and crypto prices start to plummet.

Gil Luria, DA Davidson analyst, has a price target for COIN of $440.

Hating the timing but loving the stock, CNBC's Jim Cramer has his eye on $475.

In a virtual interview yesterday with The Economic Club of New York, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell questioned crypto's relevance as a means of payment, and instead called digital currencies "vehicles for speculation."

Powell’s opinion of gold isn't much better, as Cointelegraph noted in covering his remarks, which included this gem: “For thousands of years, human beings have given gold a special value that it doesn’t have.”