The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH), continued to rally on Tuesday, extending a three-day winning streak.
Ethereum rose to intraday highs of $1,701 before settling to trade at $1,686 at press time, still up 9% in the last 24 hours.
The movement may have surprised traders who had previously wagered on falling prices following the closure of two important crypto-friendly banks last week and the USDC stablecoin depegging.
When the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced that Silicon Valley Bank depositors will have complete access to their money after confirming a successful transfer of deposits to a new bridge bank, investors’ sentiment improved.
Here’s what pushed ETH higher
In positive news, crypto exchange Binance announced the conversion of $1 billion worth of Binance USD (BUSD) to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), BNB coin (BNB) and other tokens to support the market.
The transaction from Binance’s industry fund, which occurred Monday, probably increased buying pressure. Bitcoin regained the $24,500 mark, while Ether briefly touched the $1,700 mark.
A group of individuals that might have caused buying pressure for Ethereum (ETH) are whales or large holders with 1,000 to 10,000 coins.
According to Santiment data shared by crypto analyst Ali, this category of holders added around 400,000 ETH to its holdings, worth around $600 million, as the market plunged following the Silvergate buzz and, most recently, the SVB failure.
