Cryptocurrency markets have continued to build on recent gains and pushed higher again overnight.
Here is the state of play on Tuesday morning:
The bitcoin (BTC) price has gained almost 5% over the last 24 hours to reach US$8,725 per token. This means that the world's largest cryptocurrency now has a market capitalisation of US$147.1 billion.
Ethereum (ETH) has pushed 3% higher during this time to reach US$861.65. Ethereum's market capitalisation has improved to almost US$84.1 billion.
The Ripple (XRP) price has been a solid performer over the last 24 hours, climbing over 4% to US$1.05. The popular altcoin's market capitalisation now stands at approximately US$41.5 billion.
Bitcoin spin-off Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has edged almost 1% higher during the period to US$1,267 per token. The cryptocurrency now has a market capitalisation of US$21.5 billion.
The Cardano (ADA) price has failed to follow the market higher overnight and is down slightly during the last 24 hours to 37.6 U.S. cents. This has reduced its market capitalisation to just under US$9.8 billion.
Elsewhere, altcoins Litecoin (LTC), NEO (NEO), and Stellar Lumens (XLM) have all pushed higher by around 4% since this time yesterday.
Why are crypto markets booming?
Trader sentiment appears to have turned increasingly positive since U.S. regulators advised that they had no plans to ban cryptocurrencies, but would rather look at making them safe.
In addition to this, there's renewed optimism that bitcoin's archaic technology could be upgraded later this year, solving the issues that have led to a number of payment platforms dropping its usage.
The Lightning Network upgrade has been successfully tested in a beta and has been designed to make bitcoin both faster and cheaper to use. This should put it on a par with third-generation cryptocurrencies that have threatened to one day usurp its throne as the king of cryptocurrencies.
No date has been set for its release, but I suspect crypto traders will be hopeful that this is the beginning of bitcoin's move into the mainstream.
