‘Digital Coin’ Prices Skyrocket 1,300% in One Month

With the digital currency frenzy having continued from the beginning of the year, the market price of the so-called digital coins, such as Ripple and Ada, which was lower than 1,000 won (US$0.94), has surged.

According to South Korean cryptocurrency exchange UpBit on January 7, the market price of market bellwether Bitcoin stood at 26.9 million won (US$25,334) as of 8:50 am on the same day, up 46.3 percent from 18.39 million won (US$17,320) on December 7 last year.

In addition to Bitcoin, digital coins whose prices are lower than 1,000 won (US$0.94) showed a higher rise over the same period. Some of them soared up to 1,300 percent. The price of Ripple, which was one of typical virtual coins, rose a whopping 1,327.3 percent from 289 won (US$0.27) to 4,125 won (US$3.88) in the past month. Ripple has recorded a jumping rate from the middle of last month and ranked second in terms of market cap, surpassing Ethereum. The price of Ada also increased 922.3 percent from 157 won (US$0.15) to 1,605 won (US$1.51), while that of Stellar Lumens jumped as much as 418.4 percent from 217 won (US$0.20) to 1,125 won (US$1.06).

Investors are also paying attention to the surge in digital cash prices. Individual investors that have not enough surplus funds are flocking in virtual coins since they can seek for jackpots due to their lower prices and high volatility.

However, investors should be carefully decided upon as digital coins can make large profits from the spike in prices in a short period of time but they can also cause huge losses from the collapse in prices. In particular, digital coins other than Ripple have a small size of market cap and high momentary fluctuations depending on the investment sentiment. The price of Einsteinium, which showed a rise in the past, tumbled by half compared to the high mark. Einsteinium was traded at some 200 won (US$0.19) in November last year and then 2,900 won (US$2.73) in early December. However, its price went down to 1,400 won (US$1.32) at the moment after going through the adjustment.