Investing.com – The price of ethereum’s ether clinched a record high for the second day in a row amid both rising volumes and demand as investors continued to place bullish bets on ether ahead of an expected surge in demand.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose 5.37% to $1227.4 after notching an all-time high of $1,250 earlier in the session.
The ongoing ether demand comes amid expectations that a surge in initial coin offering (ICO) activity this month would boost demand for Ethereum’s ether as ICO issuers often request payment in ether.
“Transaction volume on the blockchain has more than doubled, surpassing 10 transactions per second for days at a time,” according to a blog post from the Ethereum team.
Bitcoin Continues to Crack Under Regulatory Pressure
Bitcoin trickled lower as intense selling pressure continued amid fears of a regulatory crackdown in the cryptocurrency industry after reports suggested that China plans to limit power use by some bitcoin miners, while South Korea's financial regulator said it and other agencies are inspecting six local banks that offer digital currency accounts to institutions.
Bitcoin miners are users who help maintain the system by validating transactions stored in “blocks” on the network.
South Korea and Japan dominate cryptocurrency trading volumes with the latter said to make up more 30% to 50% of total bitcoin trading volume following China’s decision to ban domestic cryptocurrency exchanges from operating last year.
Ripple Plunges For Second Straight Day, Bitcoin Cash Turns Positive
Ripple's XRP fell 11.67% to $2.1985 after reaching an all-time high of $3.28 last Thursday.
The fall in Ripple comes despite growing signs that RippleNet, the technology behind the cryptocurrency, continues to garner support from major financial institutional amid swirling rumors that Western Union could adopt the technology in 2018.
Bitcoin Cash, widely believed to be a “real” alternative to bitcoin as it boasts both faster and cheaper transactions, rose 1.40% to $2,409, after surging above $4000 to a record high of $4,100 in December.