It has been another positive 24 hours of trade for the cryptocurrency market with strong gains being seen across the board.
All but three of the top 50 coins are currently in positive territory compared to this time yesterday, taking the entire value of the crypto market up to US$270.1 billion according to Coin Market Cap.
This is an increase of approximately 5.3% over the last 24 hours.
Why are cryptocurrencies rocketing higher?
Speculation that exchange traded fund (ETF) giant BlackRock is interested in launching a cryptocurrency focused ETF appears to have been the catalyst for the rampant buying.
As BlackRock is the world's largest ETF provider, managing over US$6 trillion of assets, traders appear to believe that a crypto ETF could lead to increased demand for coins.
In addition to this, according to CNBC, BlackRock is also looking into blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.
Here is the state of play on Tuesday morning:
The Bitcoin (BTC) price has risen 4.5% since this time yesterday to US$6,668.94 per coin, lifting the world's largest cryptocurrency's market capitalisation to US$114.4 billion.
The Ethereum (ETH) price has climbed 5.3% over the last 24 hours to US$476.66 per token, increasing its market capitalisation to just over US$48 billion.
The Ripple (XRP) price is up 5.1% during the period to almost 47.1 U.S. cents. This has given the popular alt coin an improved market capitalisation of US$18.5 billion.
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price has surged 9.4% higher over the last 24 hours to US$796.25 per token. This strong gain has lifted the Bitcoin spin-off's market capitalisation to just over US$13.7 billion.
The EOS (EOS) price has stormed 7.8% higher since this time yesterday to US$8.04, lifting the fledgling alt coin's market capitalisation to US$7.2 billion.
Outside the top five the gains were just as strong over the last 24 hours. The Litecoin (LTC) price has lifted 5.6%, Stellar (XLM) is up 5.9%, Cardano (ADA) has climbed 7.7%, IOTA (MIOTA) is 6.8% higher, and Tether (USDT) has edged slightly higher.
