Ethereum Breaks Its 2021 Record After Powell Hints at a September Rate Cut

Ethereum finally cleared a wall it had been slamming into for almost four years.

On August 22, ether broke past its November 2021 all-time high, trading between $4,866 and $4,885 on Coinbase, according to Crypto Briefing and PrimeXBT. That topped the roughly $4,878 peak set during the last crypto mania. Some data providers logged an even higher intraday print, between $4,946 and $4,953, per both outlets.

The trigger wasn't a new Ethereum upgrade or some viral DeFi protocol. It was Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, speaking at the Jackson Hole symposium, hinting at a possible interest rate cut in September. Within 24 hours of his remarks, ether jumped nearly 15%. Bitcoin, over the same stretch, rose about 4%, according to Crypto Briefing and PrimeXBT.

Fox News captured the broader market mood in an August 21 segment, with anchors Lauren Simonetti and Stuart Varney describing a rally that also lifted Coinbase's stock as Bitcoin climbed. Fox framed it as part of a wider risk-on move that day, alongside Moderna's 17% jump on cancer vaccine trial news with Merck. This wasn't an Ethereum-only event. It was a Fed-driven rally across risk assets, and Ethereum just happened to run the hardest.

Why ether outran Bitcoin

A near-15% single-day move dwarfing Bitcoin's 4% gain isn't random. Ether had lagged badly heading into 2026. Fidelity's investor research notes that ether jumped over 257% from April to August 2025, then fell nearly 70% in the bear market that followed, leaving it well below its old highs even as Bitcoin kept setting records of its own in the interim.

That underperformance caught Arthur Hayes' attention. The BitMEX co-founder told Laura Shin's podcast on August 21, as reported by KuCoin and Bloomingbit, that ether is "one of the most disliked large-cap altcoins on the market" despite being the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. Hayes said ether is currently his largest position outside Bitcoin, calling it lower-risk than most alternatives because he views the odds of it going to zero as remote compared to smaller tokens.

Hayes' specific call: once ether broke $3,000, he expected momentum to build fast, with $5,000 achievable quickly after that. Ether has now cleared that $3,000 marker by a wide margin and is closing in on Hayes' target, though it hasn't reached $5,000 as of August 22.

This is not 2021, but the risks haven't vanished

Crypto Briefing and PrimeXBT both make a fair point: the last time ether traded here, the setup was completely different. Near-zero interest rates and stimulus checks fueled a speculative bubble that ended with the Terra/Luna collapse and the FTX implosion. Since then, Ethereum shifted to proof-of-stake, cutting issuance and energy use. Corporate treasury purchases and ether-based ETF inflows now make up a bigger share of demand than they did during the last cycle's retail frenzy.

Fidelity's own investor guidance lays out the counterweight: ethereum dropped roughly 65% between August 2025 and February 2026 after its earlier 257% run-up. Double-digit swings over a matter of weeks are, in Fidelity's words, "not unusual." Critics cited by Fidelity also argue that faster, cheaper competitors like Solana pose a long-term threat to Ethereum's market position if transaction costs and speeds don't keep improving.

Ethereum's fundamentals have genuinely changed since 2021, and ether remains one of the most volatile major assets in any portfolio. Anyone reading the record-high headline without the 65% drawdown that preceded it is getting half the story.

What happens next

Crypto Briefing and PrimeXBT both flag the same metric to watch: institutional flows into ether-based ETFs over the coming weeks. If those inflows accelerate alongside the price breakout, it would suggest the rally has real staying power beyond Powell's macro trigger. If flows stay flat or decline even with ether at record highs, that would point to a retail-driven spike, a pattern that has historically faded fast.

Powell only hinted at a possible September rate cut at Jackson Hole — he did not announce one, and no cut has been confirmed. Ether's record high is built on that hint, not on a decision that has actually been made.