(Bloomberg) In the grand banking hall of Cipriani 42nd Street in Manhattan last week, crypto advocates gathered beneath marble columns and chandeliers to declare the arrival of a new financial era, one that goes way beyond Bitcoin.
Just days earlier, Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, had surged by about 75% since June to an almost all-time high. Now, inside the former Bowery Savings Bank building, digital-asset executives gathered for what felt like both a victory lap and a sales pitch. The campaign: to convince the financial community that Ether is not just another speculative coin, but the core of a future monetary system and that corporate treasuries locking it away could accelerate that vision.
