Cryptocurrencies

Ethereum rallies 12% to regain status as second largest cryptocurrency

Ethereum has regained its status as the cryptocurrency with the second largest market cap, overtaking Ripple after six weeks of being in third.

After a 12% rally, Ethereum’s market cap now stands at $15.8 billion. Ripple, despite a 3% move to the upside on Wednesday, has a current market cap of just $14.9 billion.

Ripple (XRP) overtook Ethereum in mid-November, an event that was celebrated by the XRP community, many of whom believed it would soon rival Bitcoin for top spot.

Ethereum’s rally is due to the anticipation of a series of upcoming hard forks. Ethereum Classic Vision will be airdropped to Ethereum holders at a ratio of 3:1 on January 11th. The Ethereum Nowa fork, meanwhile, is planned on January 12th.

Both events are leading to Ethereum’s Constantinople update on January 16th, which according to developers will “usher in a new wave of distributed ledger technologies.”

The Constantinople update will make Ethereum faster and less expensive. The ultimate goal is to follow Vitalik Buterin’s vision and move from a Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake protocol.

After forming a bottom in December, when Ethereum’s price hit a yearly low of $83, the cryptocurrency has rallied over 70%, making it one of the best performing digital assets in the space over the last month.

For more crypto analysis, news, and guides, click here.

Oliver Knight

Londoner ‘Ollie’ graduated from Birmingham City University with a journalism degree in 2016. He combines his writing with his love of crypto and blockchain here at Coin Rivet, saying “It disrupts well-established institutions (banks) while giving an avenue to the less fortunate to achieve financial freedom.” Like all true Londoners, his pet hate is… “People standing on the left-hand side of the escalators on the Tube!”.

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Here is why Bitcoin is still a lucrative investment in 2024

Those who enter the market at this time may be surprised to hear that Bitcoin…

1 month ago

Zircuit Launches ZRC Token: Pioneering the Next Era of Decentralized Finance

George Town, Grand Cayman, 22nd November 2024, Chainwire

1 month ago

The surge of Bitcoin NFTs: Everything you should know about Bitcoin ordinals

From digital art to real-estate assets, NFTs have become a significant attraction for investors who…

2 months ago

MEXC Partners with Aptos to Launch Events Featuring a 1.5 Million USDT Prize Pool

Singapore, Singapore, 21st October 2024, Chainwire

2 months ago