The cryptocurrency markets resumed their advance on Friday, adding $5 billion to their combined market caps. Bitcoin price was one of the primary beneficiaries, and it leaped by more than $100 to pass the $4,400 checkpoint. Not one to be outdone, the ethereum price extended past a significant threshold of its own, while Ripple refused to put the brakes on its dramatic midweek surge.
Part of this rally should be attributed to Taiwan’s decision to adopt a friendly stance toward cryptocurrency usage. As CCN reported, Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman Wellington Koo told a joint session of parliament that the FSC does not intend to adopt a hardline stance on cryptocurrency usage and initial coin offerings. Instead, the FSC wants to create a regulatory framework that protects consumers but also encourages innovation within the crypto space, much like the one implemented by Japan.
Within the past 24 hours, the combined value of all cryptocurrencies has grown by nearly 4%. After entering the day at $143.4 billion, the total crypto market cap has risen by more than $5 billion and now sits at a present value of $148.8 billion.
Bitcoin Price Targets $4,500 (Again)
The bitcoin price experienced a 3% bump following Thursday’s Korea-fueled rally. Despite trading as low as $4,160 just two days ago, the bitcoin price has now risen to a global average of $4,406, placing it less than $100 beneath the $4,500 barrier. On WEX, BTC/USD is already trading as high as $4,490. If the bitcoin price can break through $4,500, many analysts expect it will make a run at $5,000 sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, today’s upward movement raised bitcoin’s market cap to $73.1 billion, enabling it to retain a 49.2% share of the total cryptocurrency market cap.
Ethereum Price Reaches $300
The ethereum price passed the $300 checkpoint on Friday, joining bitcoin in its 3% climb. At present, the ethereum price is $301, which represents a $9 daily increase and translates into a $28.6 billion market cap.
Ripple Price Continues to Swell
The altcoin markets provided investors with moderately positive returns on Friday. Every top 10 cryptocurrency — even bitcoin cash — made at least a minor gain against the U.S. dollar.
Ripple led the way with a 6% increase. The Ripple price has been surging this week, and Friday’s trading raised XRP to $0.24–its highest mark since September 1. Ripple now has a market cap of $9.2 billion, which makes it nearly 50% larger than 4th-ranked bitcoin cash.
Bitcoin cash, meanwhile, has not been having a good week. Its price has been steadily dipping, in part due to miner manipulation but also because increasing numbers of bitcoin services are giving their customers access to previously-unavailable BCH they received following the August 1 hard fork. Many people sell these coins at market prices, placing downward pressure on the bitcoin cash price. Today, however, bitcoin cash managed to rise against the value of USD by about 1%, bringing its current price to $368.
The litecoin price rose about 3% to $53, while Dash climbed 2% to hold above $300. NEM traded sideways, while eighth-ranked NEO leaped 7% to post the best performance of any top-10 cryptocurrency. The IOTA price increased 1%, and Monero’s 3% bump raised its price to $93.