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Ontology (ONT) has joined the likes of NEO, Ethereum (ETH) and big boy Bitcoin (BTC), as its market value exceeded $1bn for the first time, making the Chinese coin the newest member of the crypto billion dollar club.

The market cap of ONT first pushed past $1bn at around 13:00 GMT, before it sunk slightly below the threshold, before going back above $1bn at just after 15:00. The coin’s total value is currently at $1.057bn according to CoinMarketCap.

The price of ONT had been rising throughout the day. At market open, the coin was trading at around $3.50 and by 12:00 GMT had risen to just under $4. The coin was at $4.17 when it first reached a $1bn valuation.

This means Ontology has the 21st largest market cap, just ahead of Thailand’s OmiseGo (OMG) and $100m behind Qtum (QTUM), which with a price of $13.50, gives the coin a total value of $1.19bn.

Designed to enable companies to integrate blockchain technology into their businesses, Ontology did not have a public ICO but instead airdropped ONT to NEO holders, possibly to comply with Chinese regulation that currently prohibits all forms of coin offering.

Today’s news means that ONT has increased by 23% in the past 24 hours and since it began trading in mid-March, has increased by 160%, making it one of the most successful coins over the past month. In contrast, NEO has actually declined by 60% since the beginning of March and Bitcoin by 34%.

Ontology recently announced funding partnerships with Sequoia Capital, Danhua Capital (DHVC), Matrix Partners China, and ZhenFund.

Following speculation that the development team would collaborate with four other cryptocurrencies – Aion (AION), Wanchain (WAN), Kyber Network (KNC) and ICON (ICX) – ONT tokens doubled in value. There is still no confirmation that Ontology has come to an agreement with the other four.