some interesting price increase
why did this happen? whales?
So far coins have risen on pumps by speculators / pumpers.
A coin can be pumped only when it can be cornered, when a pumper can buy up a substantial amount of the coin then not have to worry about sellers selling into their pump. There are literally hundreds of examples of utterly worthless coins that somebody has bought 70% of and which can be pumped and dumped in cycles for a reliable profit.
Namecoin is one of the original innovative coins, in fact after bitcoin it is probably the biggest innovation. Bitcoin showed the public a new economy that is safer from predatory types of gangs and Namecoin does the same but adds an internet to the economy.
So far all of the coins that have been pumped, all of them, are lower quality coins, but their markets are controllable, cornerable. Look at the chart for bitcoin and you will see a fairly honest technical picture, with a few exceptions where high level Chinese have released news to push the price down temporarily. If you look at the chart for a coin like Namecoin you will see a longterm erosion as short term speculators leave for lower quality more profitable coins. This decline would only be expected to end when crypto is at the cusp of a broader adoption and educated speculators expect a shift back into quality.
It looks like that phase is probably beginning.