VERGING on the unbelievable, this cryptocurrency jumped 800 per cent in value in December 2017 before seeing January 2018 take chunks out of its value.

Meet the speedy, anonymous Verge, and find out the latest price, how to get in on the action – and why, like all digital currencies, its riddled with risks...

2 This breakdown of Verge of January 2018 highlights both its volatility and decline

What is XVG?

Verge is a cryptocurrency which aims to make transactions completely anonymous.

Created in 2014 under the name DogeCoinDark, it was rebranded to Verge Currency last year.

The currency is virtually untraceable and the users of Verge can make instant anonymous transactions.

This is achieved through using highly advanced blockchain technology built on top of services such as Tor and I2P that hides your personal data, such as IP-addresses and geolocation.

The currency also differs to other cryptocurrencies through being a 100 per cent open source project, with all members of the community able to give full input into any decisions made about future changes.

It's also meant to be very fast, and by using 'Simple Payment Verification' (SPV) technology confirmation times are kept to around five seconds on average.

2 Investing in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Verge comes with significant risks Credit: Getty - Contributor

What's the price of Verge and how do you buy it?

In December, Verge enjoyed an astronomical rise, its value soaring from just $0.006 to a high of around $0.23.

It suffered over January 2018, though and has struggled since – on February 21 it is priced at £0.0503 ($0.0702).

On the official website for the currency, users are recommended to buy off any reputable exchanges.

Anyone with an Android device can take Verge on the go and send or receive coins with their mobile Verge wallet app.

What are some of the risks?

Anyone thinking of investing in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency should be very careful.

Their values are volatile, with the ability to plummet as quickly as they shoot up.

And investors are frequently targeted by hackers and other criminals who seek to steal their crypto-cash online.

Be especially careful if you are using direct, peer-to-peer platforms to sell and buy cryptocurrencies.

These are the equivalent of something like Gumtree for Bitcoin – you never know who you might be dealing with.

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Is the cryptocurrency as valuable as Bitcoin?

The cybercash is still a long way off being as valuable as Bitcoin, and is currently worth a tiny fraction of one per cent of a Bitcoin.

Like Bitcoin, Verge is capped - but at a lofty 16.5billion XVG.

There are far fewer Bitcoins in circulation - capped at 21million - which goes some way to explaining the vast difference in demand.

On the Verge website, they say the number is this high in order to "allow for convenient payment amounts in everyday use".