Crypto Today: Bitcoin stays in consolidation, ripple gains more than 70%
|- Bitcoin stays quiet above $16K.
- Total market cap reaches a new record high of $517 billion.
- Ripple extends rally, moves closer to $1.
The BTC/USD pair fluctuated in a relatively tight range for the third straight day on Thursday as investors remained focused on higher-yielding cryptocurrencies. According to the latest available data on coinmarketcap.com, the BTC/USD pair was at $16,551.20, up only 0.25% on the day. The XBT (CBOE Bitcoin Futures) also struggled to find direction and was down 1.4% at $16,860 as of writing. Moreover, bitcoin's reputation took another hit after a recent survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal showed that 51 out of 53 economists thought that bitcoin had been experiencing a speculative bubble.
Meanwhile, ripple, which was trading at $0.40 yesterday, more than doubled its price in the last two days as it advanced to a new all-time high at $0.87 on Thursday. Commenting on ripple's price action, "as mainstream investors rush into crypto, they're looking for bitcoin alternatives — either as a hedge or because bitcoin appears overbought. Litecoin lit up first, then it was Ethereum. These shoppers are working their way down the top-10, looking for safe, familiar names. Ripple fits the bill perfectly," Jeff Koyen, CEO of 360 Blockchain USA, a subsidiary of 360 BlockChain, told Forbes magazine.
The market capitalization of ripple increased nearly $6 billion in the last 24 hours, making it the third largest cryptocurrency above bitcoin cash with a total cap of $31.9 billion. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies continued to push higher above the $500 billion mark and reached a new peak at $517 billion.
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