Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase suffers temporary trading halts

It’s not just bitcoin that’s on a tear, other digital currencies are skyrocketing in value too.

Digital currency exchange Coinbase, which brokers exchanges of bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other digital assets, saw its trading platform shut down for a limited time amidst a booming and expanding marketplace.

Litecoin and Ethereum buys and sells were temporarily disabled today at 10:40 a.m. ET for almost one and a half hours, and again for Litecoin buys and sells at 2 p.m. ET, which lasted for a further 40 minutes.

The outages occurred during a period of intensive price action and trading for both virtual currencies.

While these issues have since been resolved, it’s apparent that rapid, amplified activity is taking its toll.

Although bitcoin has received much of the press in the last few weeks and months, rising more than 50% in the last month to reach $17,700 in mid-December, other digital currencies are also surging in value. Over the last few days, two other cryptocurrencies – Litecoin and Ethereum’ ether – have witnessed significant gains.

In just two days ether’s value has risen approximately $170, from $433 on Sunday December 10 to a little over $605 on Tuesday December 12, according to coindesk’s crypto exchange price index. That’s almost a 40% jump. Ethereum is an open-source blockchain-based distribution platform which uses smart contracts for trades.

Litecoin’s value shot up 150% over the same two day period, from $133 on December 10 to over $330 today, according to CoinMarketCap. Litecoin is similar to bitcoin but generally has faster transaction confirmation.

Discover how and where to buy bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum’s ether using our tailored guides.

The largest U.S. options exchange, CBOE, launched bitcoin futures trading over the weekend, offering investors their first opportunity to bet on whether the cryptocurrency’s value will rise or fall over time. Long-term future pricing has been heralded by some investors as a considerable vote of confidence for virtual currencies, potentially paving the way for less market volatility and further increased investment over time.

New York rental management platform ManageGo will soon allow tenants to pay rent using cryptocurrencies.

However, UBS Wealth Management remains unconvinced as to whether bitcoin and other digital currencies have a shelf life. The currency’s legitimacy is a hotly debated topic among economists and trading strategists.

Discover more about cryptocurrencies and learn how to properly invest in the new world of digital currencies.

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