Cryptocurrencies add to climb as appetite for altcoins grows

Digital assets moved higher Friday, looking to build on gains over the past 48 hours. After two losing days to begin the week, bitcoin, the No. 1 digital currency, is more than 5% off its Tuesday low and at its highest level since March 26.

Bitcoin  last changed hands at $8,496.78, up 2.7%. That move lags the action for other cryptocurrencies, however, as investor appetite for smaller coins grows, with Ripple’s XRP leading the way. It’s up 9% to 84 cents.

“As the larger crypto-market gains more confidence and positivity, Ripple’s valuation should grow in tandem with the overall value of the cryptocurrency market,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets U.K.

“Ripple to date is trading around $0.70, whilst its all-time highs were closer to $3.30, marking a potential 5.44x growth,” he said. “Bitcoin, on the other hand, only has around 1x-1.5x, comparing its current price to previous all-time highs.”

Venture capitalists meet with SEC over regulatory concerns

A group of investors, led by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz met with the Securities and Exchange Commission to lobby against cryptocurrencies, most notably ether, from being categorized as securities, a designation that would intensify regulatory scrutiny, the New York Times reported.

The group met with SEC officials in March to present a case for a safe harbor that would allow some tokens to be categorized as “utility tokens” instead of securities, the report said.

Altcoins and futures

Altcoins continued to march higher. Ether is up 3.9% at $589.37, Bitcoin Cash, which has been on a tear this week, is back above $1000, up a further 14.2% today, trading at $1,106.87 and Litecoin has added 2.6% to $149.97.

The rise in Bitcoin Cash comes ahead of the May 15 hard fork, known as Bitcoin ABC that will quadruple its block size to 32 megabytes. Proponents hope the fork will crease transaction speed, which will lead to wider adoption.

The price of Bitcoin Cash is up 41% this week, bursting through its 50-day moving average.

Futures are in the green Friday. The Cboe’s May contract  is up 3.4% at $8,530 and the CME Group Inc. April contract is higher by 3% at $8,510.