As you watch bitcoin’s scorching rally, other cryptocurrencies are having a moment.
Ether, the Ethereum blockchain digital token, surpassed the $ 1,000 mark on Monday to reach its highest level since February 2, 2018. Ether’s last trade was $ 1,038, a 30% increase over the past 24 hours, according to data from the crypto news site CoinDesk.
It comes after bitcoin has reached a new historical record, briefly surpassing the $ 34,000 mark. The world’s largest cryptocurrency in market value rose to $ 34,452 on Sunday morning, before dropping to around $ 31,780 on Monday.
Even XRP, the virtual currency linked to the controversial blockchain startup Ripple, was rising on Monday. The XRP has lasted around 7% in the past 24 hours, trading at around 23 cents.
It is still worth less than half what it was about two weeks ago, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Ripple, claiming that the company had made an offer of securities not registered with XRP.
Meanwhile, litecoin traded more than 10% higher on Monday, for around $ 155. Litecoin was created by crypto entrepreneur Charles Lee with the intention of processing transactions faster than bitcoin’s underlying blockchain network .
Alternatives to bitcoin, sometimes called “altcoins” in the cryptocurrency industry, tend to recover in times of strength for bitcoin. Many altcoins won after bitcoin approached $ 20,000 in 2017, amid rising interest from retail investors in space.
“The overexponential pace of earnings is impressive, but carries the risk of very sharp corrections when they finally arrive,” said John Hardy, head of currency strategy at Saxo Bank, in a note on Monday.
Ether was within reach of a historic high above $ 1,400, which reached mid-January 2018. The cryptocurrency network has recently started a major update called Ethereum 2.0, which should make it faster and more secure.
Optimistic crypto investors believe Ethereum could become the model for a decentralized, next-generation internet as it supports applications on its network. A major theme in 2020 was the rise of decentralized finance, or DeFi, which aims to replicate traditional financial products, such as loans without intermediaries, such as banks.
Bitcoin saw a historic high last year, when it advanced more than 300%. The virtual currency started life in 2009 and has come a long way since its anti-establishment roots in the wake of the financial crisis, seeing the adoption of large companies like PayPal and Fidelity and the increased interest of institutional investors.