Counterparty price soars by 130% on Overstock "cryptosecurity" plans, challenges all-time highs

The price of Counterparty (XCP) cryptocurrency soared by over 130% to 0.014 BTC ($4.55) on Overstock's plans to hire two XCP developers to build its "cryptosecurity" market.

In Bitcoin terms, XCP's challenges all-time highs near 0.015-0.017 BTC reached soon after its trading started in February. After the initial "pop", XCP slumped by 85% to a low of 0.0025 BTC in May. Following a bounce to 0.005 BTC, XCP continued to languish in the 0.0025-0.004 BTC range for nearly three months, finding stability near the upper end of this range in September.

24h volume is not as high as would be expected, currently equal to $164,000.

Counterparty becomes the latest example of 2nd generation Cryptocurrencies diverging from the declining broader market of bitcoin and altcoins. Ripple, whose protocol is reportedly being adopted for interbank transfers, is challenging 5-month highs.

Counterparty has thus jumped into 8th spot in market cap ranking, ahead of Darkcoin. It is now worth $10.9 million.

The valuation for digital currencies like Bitcoin and its ilk is driven almost entirely by supply and demand, leaving them susceptible to huge price swings. With some of these 2nd generation currencies, it may be reasonable to start evaluating them based on the enterprise value of their supported protocol.