2019-1-3 21:07 |
Ethereum (ETH) has surpassed XRP as the second largest virtual currency in the market after several weeks without being in this position. XRP experienced a good performance against ETH back in November when the market dropped. At that time XRP remained stable and was able to settle itself in the second position after Bitcoin (BTC).
Ethereum didn’t have good weeks. Since November 15, it plummetted from $211 down to $83 a few days later, a decrease of 60%. In just a few days, Ethereum experienced a strong selling pressure, mostly from Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) that were selling their funds in order to keep operative in the market.
Although XRP has also experienced positive news in the last few days and weeks, it seems that it is was not enough to stop Ethereum’s growth. XRP was listed on Binance as a quote currency against two other assets.
Why is Ethereum performing so well? There are some things that are helping one of the most popular virtual currencies in the market. Ethereum is going to experience a new hard fork as soon as January 16. This upgrade will be reducing block rewards for miners from 3 ETH to 2 ETH. This would reduce the selling pressure on the network. With a stable or growing demand for this asset, prices are expected to react positively. This is something that the market is currently pricing.
Another thing that could have influenced Ethereum prices to grow faster than other virtual currencies is the fact that ConsenSys is working properly and it might not experience a staff cut as large as expected. ConsenSys is a company founded by Ethereum’s co-founder Joseph Lubin, who recently called a bottom in the crypto market. However, several rumours spread on the internet explaining that ConsenSys was going to reduce 50% to 60% of its employees.
At the time of writing, ETH is being traded close to $146 and it has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion. In the last 7 days, Ethereum was the fastest growing project among the top 10. In the last 24 hours, ETH grew 7.44%, more than any other top 60 virtual currency.
XRP, instead, is being traded close to $0.3628 and it has a market capitalization of $14.8 billion. In the last 24 hours, it registered a 1.76% growth.
Ethereum is also growing compared to Bitcoin. Bitcoin dropped under $4,000 a few days ago since the market did not know what was going to happen with the Bakkt platform. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) changed the launching date of the platform already two times. It was scheduled for December 2018, moved for January 2019, but it might be launched in February 2019.
Nevertheless, the market is currently waiting for a clear launching date from the company behind Bakkt. Bitcoin is also operating positively. In the last 24 hours, it grew almost 2% and it has a market capitalization of $67 billion. Each BTC can be purchased for $3,835.
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