---
title: "Ethereum and Ripple Just Hit All-Time Highs"
description: "Cryptocurrencies ripple and ethereum hit new highs on January 4, with ripple reaching $3.3 per unit and ethereum breaking $1000 per unit."
date: "2018-01-04"
modified: "2018-02-19"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/ethereum-ripple-hit-all-time-highs"
categories:
  - "Bitcoin"
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Cryptocurrency"
  - "Ethereum"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "bitcoin"
  - "cryptocurrency"
  - "ethereum"
  - "ripple"
---

# Ethereum and Ripple Just Hit All-Time Highs

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GettyImages-842849956.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/842849956" target="\_blank"\>Getty Images\</a\>\</em\>*

## A Big Day for Crypto

While 2017 saw market leader bitcoin [making frequent headlines](<https://futurism.com/five-bitcoin-must-reads-2017.md>) thanks to its soaring valuations, 2018 is already proving to be a big year for the second and third most popular cryptocurrencies, ripple and ethereum, respectively.

On January 4, [ripple hit a new all-time-high](<http://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/ripple-xrp-price-hits-an-all-time-high-as-rumors-about-its-co-founders-wealth-fly-2018-1-1012475893?>) of $3.317 per unit, and at the time of writing, it has a market cap of $137 billion.

[Ethereum also hit a new high](<http://mashable.com/2018/01/04/ethereum-1000-dollars/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-tech-link#.R1DbL7pPmqQ>) on the 4th, breaking the $1,000 threshold for the first time. The cryptocurrency currently sits at $1,027.27 with a market cap of just over $99 billion.

https://youtu.be/kubGCSj5y3k

The value of a single unit of ripple or ethereum is still far below that of a unit of bitcoin (currently $15,125 per), and the leading crypto's market cap of $253 billion is almost twice that of its nearest competitor.

However, the silver and bronze cryptos are quickly closing that market cap gap, with ripple's market cap increasing by $49 billion and ether's by $26 billion just in the four days since 2017 drew to a close.

## The Future of Money

Overall, the crypto market has surged from $17 billion to almost $770 billion in the past year. Based on the latest figures for ripple and ether, society's interest in cryptocurrencies clearly extends beyond a single coin.

As more and more people invest in crypto, be it bitcoin, ether, or ripple, the likelihood that this new form of currency is here to stay increases.

[Governments](<https://futurism.com/estonia-revealed-three-uses-proposed-national-cryptocurrency.md>) and [financial institutions](<https://futurism.com/iran-national-cryptocurrency.md>) are already warming to the idea. A future of faster, more secure financial transactions [powered by crypto](<https://futurism.com/cryptocurrency-future-money-bitcoin.md>) could be just on the horizon.

*Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)

## More

- [Ripple Ends a Meteoric Year With a Brief Supremacy Over Ethereum](<https://futurism.com/ripple-ends-meteoric-year-brief-supremacy-over-ethereum.md>)
- [Ripple, the Fourth-Largest Cryptocurrency, Just Passed a Major Milestone](<https://futurism.com/ripple-passed-major-milestone.md>)
- [The Third-Largest Cryptocurrency, Ripple’s XRP, Up Almost 4000% in Second Quarter](<https://futurism.com/the-third-largest-cryptocurrency-ripples-xrp-up-almost-4000-in-second-quarter.md>)
- [Bitcoin Price Goes Over $5,800, Setting a New All-Time High Record in Less Than 24 Hours](<https://futurism.com/bitcoin-price-goes-over-5800-setting-a-new-all-time-high-record-in-less-than-24-hours.md>)
- [Western Union Confirms Plans to Experiment With Ripple](<https://futurism.com/western-union-ripple-tests.md>)
- [Ethereum Could Be Using More Than a Country’s Worth of Electricity](<https://futurism.com/ethereum-could-be-using-more-than-a-countrys-worth-of-electricity.md>)
- [Bitcoin Cash Price Rises While Bitcoin and Ethereum Drop](<https://futurism.com/bitcoin-cash-price-rises-while-bitcoin-and-ethereum-drop.md>)
- [Three More Cryptocurrencies Arrive on Bloomberg Terminal](<https://futurism.com/three-more-cryptocurrencies-arrive-bloomberg-terminal.md>)