Market Boom: The 10 Largest Cryptocurrencies Are All Up Today

They say a rising tide lifts all boats.

Even as bitcoin surged above $1,500 late last night – and crossed the $1,600 on several exchanges this afternoon – the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies as listed by market capitalization have seen price increases of at least 8% today.

Ripple's XRP token is emerging as the early winner, rising more than 40%, with an average price of about $0.079 across exchanges. Likewise, litecoin – which has already seen significant price rises in recent days ahead of an expected adoption of the scaling solution SegWit – is up about 22% on the day.

And ether, the cryptocurrency underlying the ethereum network, is up about 14%, at an average price of roughly $89 to reach an all-time high.

As reported by CoinDesk, the development comes amid a larger shift in the cryptocurrency markets that has seen an increasing diversification away from bitcoin. At press time, the Bitcoin Dominance Index, a measurement of the percent of the total market cap invested in bitcoin, had fallen below 60% for the first time in its history.

Still, analysts were largely short on comment when reached.

While some pointed to the technical benefits of various platforms, others were at a loss for words, responding with simple statements such as "WTF" or crediting the increases to "pumping and FOMO".

Industry entrepreneur and analyst Paul Buitink perhaps summed up the events the best, however, adding simply:

Elevator image via Shutterstock

Pete Rizzo contributed reporting.