Ethereum, the second-largest by market value, has roughly tripled in the last two months. "Ethereum appears prime to assume benchmark status, though bitcoin forks ripple and litecoin are the primary up-and-coming contenders. "With a $216 billion market value on December 31, bitcoin was often the first stop -- and maybe the last -- for investors who then maybe dabbled in smaller, more volatile tokens. The diluted investor base may weaken the yoke to bitcoin, the biggest by market value, they say. "Before the recent bitcoin bull run, the investor base in crypto was mostly engineers, nerds, and libertarians.

Source: Economic Times January 04, 2018 03:00 UTC