Ethereum has surged past Mastercard to take the 22nd spot in global asset rankings, with its market capitalization surpassing Mastercard’s by a mere $0.2 billion. The cryptocurrency’s recent price rally, which reached $4,300 per ETH and climbed by 6.99% within the last 24 hours, fueled this monumental achievement. Institutional investors have been major contributors to Ethereum’s upward trajectory, particularly in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), driving consistent trading volumes of over $38 billion in the past day. This surge is attributed to the rapid growth of decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) within Ethereum’s ecosystem. Experts believe these developments along with planned network efficiency improvements will help Ethereum continue its climb towards even higher market ranks.