Doubts over valuation
"[Crypto has] got a lot more institutional involvement than people who haven't followed the market believe," said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone.
"And everyone's been in Ethereum. It's not a meme joke coin, it actually has some application use," he added, referring to its role in DeFi.
But some analysts said Ethereum's increasing valuation was not underpinned by data of how widely it is used.
"The continued divergence of its price relative to network activity raise questions about its valuation," JP Morgan analysts wrote in a report to clients dated May 7.
Factors such as the number of active digital addresses in its network would be more consistent with a price of around $1,000 (€822), the US bank said.