Ripple rebounds from four-week trough on aggressive short-covering

Ripple spiked 23%, or $0.30 on Thursday away from December 24 lows on short-covering after snapping from a heavy cryptocurrency selloff, triggered by punishing rhetoric and regulations from China and South Korea. 

As of 07:13 GMT, ripple jumped 22.81% to $1.59900 from the opening of $1.29849, with a three-day high at $1.7400, and a session-low at $1.23001. 

Ripple is recovering from a month low at $0.8700, heading nonetheless for a second weekly loss after hitting a January 4 record high at $3.317. 

Ripple's market value surged back above $160 billion today after falling below $100 billion earlier this week  amid reports that South Korea and China are drafting directives to ban trading or investing in them, leading to fears about increased official crackdown. 

Cryptocurrencies lost over $70 billion on Tuesday from their market value, especially after China's central bank deputy governor said authorities should ban centralized cryptocurrency trading to prevent possible destabilization of the local economy. 

Union of Arab Banks' Secretary General Wissam Futoh warned earlier today from cryptocurrency trading without strict official regulations to monitor trading, adding that the Union has just completed a study on the risks and benefits of cryptocurrency on Arab banks under the directives from several Arab governments. 

Futoh said the results of the study will be released later this week, which will provide valuable analysis on the impact on Arab banks as they lack any kind of regulations on these tradings despite increased interest by Arabs in them. 

South Korea is considering a ban on cryptocurrency trading, while China banned mining operations, hitting major centers of both activities. 

Seoul continues to impose fines on users who are unwilling to use their real ID data while trading, and in Beijing, authorities are widening a ban on exchanging and mining cryptocurrencies, while preventing investors inside the country from reaching their trading platforms.