Price Watch: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Begin to Stabilize 🚨 This article is 7 years old...
Price Watch: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin Begin to Stabilize
4 min read
Updated: May. 20, 2018 at 4:16 am UTC
Photo by Drew Patrick Miller on Unsplash
After a rough-and-tumble week, most major cryptocurrencies are inching closer towards green territory. At press time, entities like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin all experienced small, yet noticeable hikes in their prices, while others, such as Bitcoin Cash, are showing even more noticeable gains over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin is sitting just beyond $8,362 – roughly $262 higher than where it was during our previous price article.
New reports about Bitcoin mining have emerged, and suggest that global operations for extracting new coins now require as much electricity as the entire nation of Ireland.
The Emerald Isle’s population is considerably larger than that of Iceland, which a few months ago, was identified as the first country to outdo itself via Bitcoin mining. Cryptocurrency mining ultimately required more energy than what was needed to power all of Iceland’s residences.
Its newfound status with Ireland’s electricity use shows just how powerful, and even common, Bitcoin mining has become. In addition, Bitcoin mining may use as much energy as Austria by the end of 2018. At press time, global operations require about 3.1 gigawatts of power.
The number of gigawatts necessary to power all of Austria is roughly 8.2, suggesting Bitcoin mining energy may possibly double by the time 2019 rolls along.
It seems everyone is eager to get their hands on new coins.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum is up almost $40 since our previous price piece when it was trading for approximately $677. At press time, the currency’s price has jumped to $714.
Ethereum has been garnering newfound publicity ever since China – a nation known for being hostile towards cryptocurrencies – labeled it as the number one digital asset according to a new coin index.
In fact, Apple’s Steve Wozniak recently compared Ethereum to Apple at a Vienna conference and praised its technology, saying it could become “just as influential as Apple was.”
Wozniak also commented,
“Ethereum interests me because it can do things and because it’s a platform.”
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple is currently trading for 68 cents. That’s about two cents higher than where it sat during our previous price discussion.
This week, XRP received assistance from a very unlikely associate: rapper Snoop Dogg.
Sponsored by Ripple Labs and headlined by the 46-year-old music mogul, a concert was held at a warehouse in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, which was stuffed to the brim with champagne, blood orange margaritas, Ripple community members and musicians. The event was designed to garner further awareness for the Ripple community, and ultimately convince skeptics of the currency’s power.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bitcoin Cash is the only major cryptocurrency that’s still soaking in the red. At press time, BCH is trading for approximately $1,187 – nearly $20 less than where it stood during our previous price article.
This could be in anticipation of the currency’s upcoming hard fork, which is dubbed “BitcoinZap.” The fork is scheduled to take place on Tuesday and will differ from previous hard forks in that a new coin will not be created, and the older version of BCH will become obsolete and thus carry no economic value.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is presently trading for about $137. That’s five dollars higher than where it stood during our previous price discussion.
The #paywithlitecoin campaign appears to be helping as private jet service TapJets recently announced in a blog post that it will add Ripple and Litecoin to its list of potential payment options. Users in need of private travel arrangements will now have the option to pay with LTC.
The TapJets team explained in a statement:
“The people have voted, and we have heard their feedback. TapJets will proceed with the technical evaluation of Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC).”
Market Summary
Since our last price article, the cryptocurrency market cap rose to $383 billion, roughly $8 billion higher from where it previously stood. Though signs of recovery are beginning to appear, investors are again warned to remain careful when trading cryptocurrencies, which remain largely unregulated and speculative.
Posted In: Crypto
