Bitcoin may have more than doubled this year, but rival Ethereum is up 2,000 percent. Here's why

A bitcoin rival also has the market's attention A bitcoin rival also has the market's attention
10:55 AM ET Wed, 24 May 2017 | 00:49
Bitcoin has more than doubled in price this year alone, but it has been outperformed by its closest rival Ether, which is up over 2,300 percent.

On January 1, bitcoin was trading at the day's high of $1,003.25. On Wednesday, it broke through the $2,300 barrier for the first time to hit a fresh record high of $2,377.32, according to CoinDesk, marking a year-to-date rise of 137 percent. To find out what's driving bitcoin's rally, read more here.

Meanwhile, bullishness around bitcoin has stoked appetite for other cryptocurrencies. One in particular known as ether is getting traction. Ether has risen from $8.24 on January 1, to a high of $203.30, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com. This represents a 2,367 percent rise year-to-date.

What is Ether?

Ether runs on an underlying technology called Ethereum, which is a different blockchain to the one that underpins bitcoin.

While ether does have digital "coins" like bitcoin, companies are more focused on how the Ethereum blockchain could be used in real-world applications.

https://pdl-iphone-cnbc-com.akamaized.net/VCPS/Y2017/M03D30/3000606086/6ED2-REQ-BlockChain4-033117_L.mp4