Ether, the cryptocurrency of the Ethereal network, soared to a record high on Friday, driven in part by a new update and data showing that smart contract blockchain Ethereum burned more tokens than it emitted in the last 24 hours. The second-largest cryptocurrency shot 3.9 percent to $4,339.86, surpassing its previous record of $4,379.62 reached back in May, as per Bloomberg. Ether is now worth about $520 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.com. The digital asset has also outperformed Bitcoin so far this year, up more than 45 percent on a month-to-date basis versus bitcoin’s 40 percent gain, which reached a record of nearly $67,000 following the debut of the first Bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we go blasting through in European and U.S. trade,” said Chris Weston, research head at Melbourne-based broker Pepperstone, told Reuters. “This is a momentum beast at the moment, and it looks bloody strong.” Meanwhile, the amount of ether burned on a daily basis …