Ethereum has enjoyed a spectacular growth on Thursday, when it managed to reach the $1,000 price range for the first time. So, although the New Year has just started, the cryptocurrency market is starting once again to experience an interesting growth.

The growth of the altcoin market cap overpassed $140 billion

And not only that the price of Ethereum has managed to pass $1,000, but the altcoin market cap has reached the impressive growth of over $140 billion. However, it is important to mention that Ethereum is not the only cryptocurrency with such an important evolution.

In fact, another altcoin, Ripple, has managed to take the second place behind bitcoin for the first time this week with a market cap of around $100 billion.

Although the market cap of Ethereum has also grown, Ripple was still able to further increase and maintain its position. Still, the growth of Ethereum in December has been one of the most impressive of all altcoins. At the beginning of December, 2017, Ethereum's price was $428. This means that in one month, the price of this altcoin has more than doubled.

Ethereum's price reached $1,000 yesterday on most Western exchanges. The cryptocurrency is having a much higher price in South Korea, where it was purchased at $1,322.

At the time of writing, the market cap of Ripple has actually reached $118.8 billion, while the market cap of Ethereum fell behind with $96.4 billion. Bitcoin is of course on the first spot with a market cap of $283.1 billion. The price of bitcoin has also experienced an increase, reaching $16,862. Currently, the price of Ethereum has suffered a small decrease compared to yesterday, being set at $996.67.