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The cryptocurrency market came storming back Friday after a holiday slump.
The market capitalization for cryptocurrencies retested old highs, crossing back over $600 billion. The market first hit the milestone on December 18. It bottomed out four days later at $412 billion.
The biggest gains in the market were not among the top known cryptos - such as bitcoin and Ethereum - but smaller so-called alt-coins. Here's the scoreboard for Friday:
- Bitcoin (BTC): $4,761 (+2.7%)
- Ethereum (ETH): $744 (+3.6%)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCC): $2,693 (+8.65%)
- Ripple (XRP): $1.67 (+32%)
- Litecoin (LTC): $253 (+2.01%)
Smaller coins, such as Cardano and Stellar, were up more than 20% apiece, according to data provider CoinMarketCap.com.
What's happening:
- You can now practice trading CME bitcoin futures. Wannabe bitcoiners now have a way to try their hand at CME Group's bitcoin futures market without any risk. CME recently added a bitcoin futures simulation to its CME Institute suite of trading simulation tools.
- ETHEREUM FOUNDER: 'I won't stop or slow working on crypto just because price memes and stupid jokes exist.' Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has clarified a tweet from Wednesday in which he threatened to leave crypto if communities in the space didn't grow up. Originally, he said he would leave crypto if all people in the space did was post memes about how much money they had.
- Ripple briefly overtakes Ethereum as the No. 2 crypto. A red-hot close to 2017 briefly caused Ripple's XRP to overtake Ethereum as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Ripple, which focuses on bank transfers, sported gains of more than 40% at one point Friday, propelling it to a record high and a market cap of $73.65 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com.
- The CEO of a UK-registered bitcoin exchange has been kidnapped in Ukraine. Pavel Lerner, 40, was reportedly dragged into a black Mercedes-Benz by men in balaclavas while leaving the Kiev offices of his company, Exmo Bitcoin, on December 26, according to local media reports.
- 'This is my future': South Korean students are going wild for bitcoin, even as regulators crack down. Young South Koreans are flocking to cryptocurrency markets, driven by high youth unemployment and promises of big returns.
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