Ethereum Eases From Highs, Bitcoin Falls as China Begins Crypto Mining Purge

The price of ethereum’s ether eased from record highs but remained well supported, while the slump in bitcoin continued as China moved to curb its massive bitcoin mining industry.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose 7.11% to $1284.2 after notching an all-time high of $1,382 earlier in the session. Ethereum has risen more than 13,000% over the past year amid surge in the number of projects on the built on the platform.
"What you're seeing with ethereum is exponential increase in the number of projects ... maybe 10 times more projects this year than last year, which could easily lead to a doubling, probably a tripling in price by the end of the year," Nerayoff said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money."
Bitcoin’s Continues to Crack Under Regulatory Pressure
Bitcoin continued its decline as China got its purge of the mining industry underway, instructing a multi-agency task force to oversee the exit of cryptocurrency mining companies amid concerns of excessive electricity consumption.
Bitcoin miners, are users who help maintain the system by validating transactions stored in “blocks” on the network, they are widely believed to hold a monopoly over the bitcoin mining industry.
Using power-intensive hardware, Miners validate blocks by solving a complex “puzzle”. Every time a "puzzle" is solved, a reward of bitcoin is distributed to the "puzzle solver" or miner.
Ripple Tumbles, Bitcoin Cash Higher
Ripple (XRP) fell 12.14 % to $1.94 after reaching an all-time high of $3.28 last Thursday.
The fall in Ripple comes despite growing signs that RippleNet, the technology behind the cryptocurrency, continues to garner support from major financial institutional amid swirling rumors that Western Union could adopt the technology in 2018.
Bitcoin Cash, widely believed to be a “real” alternative to bitcoin as it boasts both faster and cheaper transactions, rose 13.35% to $2,698, after surging above $4000 to a record high of $4,100 in December.