Cryptocurrency Markets Continue Resurgence as Ripple Claims 68 Percent Weekly Gains

Bitcoin has rapidly corrected its monthly losses Friday, September 21, after markets rallied to send prices above $6,700 for the first time in two weeks.

Data from Cointelegraph's price tracker and Coin360 confirms a strong performance for Bitcoin, which had seen a week of flat trading closer to $6,200.

At press time, BTC/USD was trading around $6,707 an increase of about 5 percent on the day, taking prices back to the range they hovered in during mid-August.

In altcoin markets, Ethereum's reversal of fortunes continued after weeks of beating Bitcoin on losses.

Prices at press time for ETH/USD hit $225, also a first since September 7, having fallen as low as $171 in the meantime.

Ripple nonetheless stood out as the clear winner on Friday, continuing its surge of over 44 percent on the day to hit weekly gains of around 68 percent, currently trading around $0.46.Ripple weekly price chart.

Commentators were initially unsure as to the motivation for such a rise, Ripple itself having hinted its xRapid payment transfer network would shortly begin serving its first banking clients.

xRapid would offer international payment settlements using XRP directly as an intermediary currency.

Elsewhere in altcoin markets, Stellar, Tezos and Cardano also produced healthy gains of between 15 and almost 18 percent.

Total market cap is now around $217 billion by press time.