Bitcoin, Ether Scale New Heights Ahead of Coinbase's Historic Trading Debut

Bitcoin and ether, the two biggest cryptocurrencies, surged to all-time high prices on Tuesday, hours before the shares of crypto exchange Coinbase are due to start trading on Nasdaq.

"Coinbase going public provides a further boost of confidence in the cryptocurrencies sector," David Russell, vice president of market intelligence at TradeStation, wrote in an email.

• The price for BTC$96,221.39, the oldest cryptocurrency and the largest by market value, set a new record of $64,829.14 before setting back to $63,633.51 at press time, up 0.8% in the last 24 hours based on CoinDesk 20 data.
• Ether, the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain and the second-largest overall, set a new high-water mark of $2,399.61, before subsiding to $2,380.84, up 4.7% in the last 24 hours.
• The new marks continue a two-day surge by the two cryptocurrencies in the lead-up to Coinbase's direct listing, a seminal moment in the history of crypto. Analysts said the extra publicity and investor-relations chatter surrounding the listing might lead to an uptick in the pace of cryptocurrency adoption, or at the very least, speculation.

Read more: Coinbase ‘IPO’ Isn’t an IPO. Here’s Why That’s Important