Cryptocurrency has been around for more than a decade, but its popularity took off in 2017. Bitcoin surged in value to be worth more than $14,000 per coin, while another virtual currency called Ethereum rose by roughly 5,000 percent to be worth more than $600 per coin. In addition to these two currencies, there are now more than 1,300 others including Ethereum Classic, Litecoin and Ripple.
