As the trading week kicked off, the latest cryptocurrency surge gathered momentum. Many altcoins saw dramatic price rises, with more than a few rising at double-digit rates.
This includes the increasingly more prominent cryptos Toncoin (CRYPT:TON) and meme coin Dogwifhat (CRYPTO:WIF), which were rising by a respective 18% and 12%. Another member of the double-digit club was Lido DAO (LDO 3.34%) thanks to its 12% gain.
Ripples in the market
A combination of generally positive developments for individual altcoins and a very favorable investment environment for digital money helped push those prices skyward.
What also contributed to this was the pronouncements of a top altcoin developer. On Sunday, Brad Garlinghouse -- CEO of Ripple -- said in an interview with CNBC that he expects the broader crypto market to nearly double in size by the end of this year. He feels it will top $5 billion, representing quite the expansion from its present level of just over $2.8 billion.
Garlinghouse cited several strong catalysts that have pushed the market ahead this year, including the wild popularity of the recently listed spot Bitcoin (BTC 0.08%) exchange-traded funds, and the halving that will soon occur with the leading cryptocurrency.
He told the financial news service that "I'm very optimistic. I think the macro trends, the big-picture things like the ETFs, they're driving for the first time real institutional money."
Institutional investors, of course, have far more capital at their disposal than the average individual market player.
CRYPTO: BTC
Key Data Points
Also providing some oomph for altcoins were the sharp upward trajectories of Toncoin and Dogwifhat.
The former notched a new all-time high at over $6 and recently returned to the lineup of top cryptos by market cap (it's currently No. 7). Investors are clearly excited for the future of this token, particularly after popular messaging app Telegram -- whose developers were behind the first iteration of Toncoin -- launched payments in the crypto for advertisers and content creators earlier this month. A potential Telegram IPO is also boosting demand.
As for the latter, it's a novelty token in a novelty segment that has been on fire. Investors have piled into meme coins in the hunt for better and faster returns than top cryptos like Bitcoin can offer. As it launched mere months ago, some investors might feel that Dogwifhat has higher upside potential than meme cryptos that have been on the scene longer (hello, Dogecoin).
Talk is cheap, but...
Of course, we should never invest in any asset based on the pronouncements of an insider.
Still, Garlinghouse's comments are reflective of a widely held and strong optimism in the crypto market these days. There is much momentum behind cryptocurrencies in general, and we're starting to see certain categories trade in distinct ways. It's a thrilling time to be an investor in coins and tokens, and we shouldn't expect a come-down in the immediate future.
