Bitcoin’s Main Cryptocurrency Rival Ethereum Hits New Record High

Ether, the digital currency from the ethereum blockchain, made some hefty gains by the end of Friday and hit an all-time high of $425.55 on Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap.

CNBC reported that it broke the previous high of $414.76 which the digital currency reached earlier this year in June.

Ether has risen by more than 5,000 percent since the start of the year and is the second-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of more than $40 billion.

The sudden rise was after a prediction from billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, who said the cryptocurrency would reach $500 by the end of the year while predicting bitcoin would also reach $10,000.

Novogratz said investors were interested in the cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether due to the lack of trust in financial institutions after the 2008 market crash.

Bitcoin cash, a virtual currency that stems from a split in the original blockchain earlier this year also rallied by as much as 19 percent on Friday, getting as high as $1,789.05.

Earlier this month, the bitcoin spinoff was able to best ether as the second-largest digital currency but ether has rebounded back to the second position and continued rising on Friday to a renewed record high of $450.23.

–WN.com, Maureen Foody