Cryptocurrency surge: Ether creates record, crosses $1,000 for the first time ever

Ethereum or Ether created a new record on Thursday when it crossed USD 1,000 in exchange rates at many major cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time ever. At the time of publishing, it was trading at USD 1,042, according to the  CoinDesk price index.

The market cap or total valuation of the cryptocurrency now stands at over USD 102 billion and is currently the third biggest digital currency in the world.

For the most part of the last year, Ether was the second most valued cryptocurrency in the world. It was recently replaced by Ripple which has seen about 50,000 percent rise in last 12 months.Also Read: Cryptocurrency marketplace Coinbase puts an end to rumours that it may add Ripple to its exchanges

One week ago, Ether was trading at USD 752. Since then it has seen a surge of about 40 percent in its valuation. For the major part of December, the value of one Ether was swinging between USD 700 and USD 800.

The dollar price of Ether at major exchanges of the world at 1112 hours IST. Source: WorldCoinIndex

Despite the late surge, the dominance of the digital currency has depleted with the rise and introduction of other cryptocurrencies. From commanding over 31 percent of the total market cap of all the cryptocurrency in June 2017, the share is now just 13 percent. A more drastic drop in dominance has also been seen in the case of bitcoin.

The total market cap of all the currencies trading on 'cryptostreet' stands at USD 761 billion.