Investing.com – Cryptocurrency prices surged on Tuesday, with XRP jumped more than 10% and other major virtual coins also rose more than 5%. Reports that Coinbase opened an office in Dublin received some focus.

Bitcoin traded 5.1% higher to $6,699.5 at 12:30 AM ET (04:30 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.

Ethereum rose 7.3% to $213.02 in the previous 24 hours.

XRP surged 10.5% to $0.45881 on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin also advanced 4.9% at $58.309.

U.S.-based Coinbase, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges globally, told Reuters on Tuesday that its newly opened Dublin office allowed it to keep selling services in EU countries even after Brexit.

“It ticks a lot of boxes – ranging from giving us a contingency, helping us plan for all eventualities for Brexit and engaging with Europe through another base,” UK Chief Executive Officer Zeeshan Feroz told Reuters in an interview, adding that Coinbase’s non-U.S. headquarters will remain in London.

Feroz did not provide details of the size of the Dublin office, although the website of Coinbase suggested the exchange currently employs over 500 people worldwide.

In other news, Tether, currently the eighth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, continued to fall over renewed speculation that Bitfinex, the crypto exchange that shares a chief executive officer with Tether’s issuer, was undergoing problems with its financial health and banking relationships.

Elsewhere, Michael Novogratz, one of the most prominent investors in digital currencies, told Bloomberg in an interview that he doesn’t expect crypto prices to fluctuate too much before the first half of 2019 or when institutional investors jump in.

“One thing you learn in this process is that everything takes a little longer than you hoped it would,” Novogratz said. “I don’t don’t see us breaking $10,000 by the end of the year.”

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