Bitcoin is No Longer the Only Crypto on the Block as Etherium’s Currency Ether Crosses Over a $2 Billion Market Cap

by Kenneth Schortgen, The Daily Economist:

Ever since the creation of the crypto-currency Bitcoin came into the public sphere in 2009, dozens of other alternative digital currencies have attempted to follow Bitcoin’s success. But only one of course has made that critical leap into widespread confidence and acceptance, causing governments, markets, and even retailers to adapt to its growth.

Until now.

On March 14, just one day before the U.S. government faces a new debt limit crisis and the Federal Reserve is to decide upon whether to raise interest rates, a crypto-currency other than Bitcoin has reached a milestone by becoming only the second digital currency to achieve a market cap of over $2 billion.

A digital currency called ether has hit a record high market capitalization of more than $2 billion, a milestone only bitcoin has managed to pass.

One ether currently trades for around $29, hitting a high of over $30 on Monday, according to price tracking website CryptoCompare.

The figure marks an increase of nearly 20 percent from a week ago. The market cap of the cryptocurrency has surged from $1.8 billion to more than $2.57 billion in the same period.

Ether was introduced in 2013 and runs on the Ethereum blockchain through the use of an underlying technology that is different to the one that powers bitcoin. – Russia Today

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