The native coin of the most widely used blockchain, Ether, has risen to an all-time high as the Ethereum network is increasingly used for everything from non-fungible tokens to decentralized banking apps.

The second-largest digital currency by market capitalization (behind Bitcoin) rose 3.5 percent to $4,403.93, breaking the previous high of $4,379.62 set in May. Other smaller tokens, such as Binance Coin and Solana, rose in value, rekindling expectations for cryptocurrencies to outperform Bitcoin.

Ethereum has long surpassed Bitcoin as the most widely used blockchain, with the protocol acting as the foundation for projects like MakerDAO and Uniswap, which can be layered atop the network with smart contracts. The Ethereum blockchain is home to over 3,000 decentralized apps, or Dapps. Ethereum 2.0 engineer Preston Van Loon said on Twitter that the network's Altair upgrade went live successfully earlier this week.