The total market value of cryptocurrencies has exceeded 1 trillion US dollars, occupying the top spot in the global currency market

summary:

• The global market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has surpassed $1 trillion.

• This represents approximately 1% of all the world's currencies.

• Experts believe that this number will continue to grow rapidly.

On January 6, local time in the United States, the U.S. Congress was "fallen" by Trump supporters. The last time the U.S. Congress "fell" was more than 200 years ago in 1814 when the British captured Washington. Many Americans lamented that this was the "darkest day" in American history.

However, the market value of cryptocurrencies exceeded $1 trillion on this day.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization, or the value of all cryptocurrencies currently in circulation, has surpassed $1 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

This data tracks the market capitalization of a total of 8,199 cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin has a market capitalization of US$687.7 billion, accounting for 68.4% of the market capitalization; Ethereum has a market capitalization of US$137 billion, accounting for 13.6% of the market capitalization.

Antoni Trenchev, managing partner of crypto lending service Nexo, told Decrypt,

“Behind this milestone, once again, lurks a financial crisis that has led to safe-haven flows into gold, but also into its digital equivalents — like Bitcoin. With Bitcoin’s gains now starting to flow into altcoins, we are likely to see greater diversity and a more even distribution among large-cap assets. As I said before, it is also possible that Bitcoin could capture at least 10% of gold’s market share.”

Not surprisingly, Bitcoin is the absolute leader in terms of its $687.7 billion market cap, attracting two-thirds of the market. Ethereum ranks second with a market cap of $137 billion. It is worth noting that these are the only two cryptocurrencies that are among the world's top 100 assets, at least so far. According to companiesmarketcap data, Bitcoin ranks 9th and Ethereum ranks 86th in the global corporate market capitalization ranking.

Geoff Morphy, president of Bitfarms, a publicly traded Canadian bitcoin mining business, told Decrypt that $1 trillion is just the beginning as people will continue to look for ways to preserve or increase the value of their assets.

“People have been using some form of money for 5,000 years. Before that, they bartered. Either way, for thousands of years, people have recognized value and have been very clever and creative in ways to increase value, or at the very least, maintain their net worth position. People today are no different.”

The difference, he noted, is that now the level of complexity is much higher and people today have many options. When they see their net worth position eroded by inflation or other devaluing events, they seek other options. That’s when Bitcoin comes in.

For example, for decades people have been debating whether gold is an effective safe-haven asset or hedge. With the advent of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, new alternatives have emerged. “By design, Bitcoin is safe, secure, easily traded, cannot be manipulated, and is inherently scarce as only a limited number of BTC can be minted,” Morphy noted.

He believes that cryptocurrencies are not responsible for increasing the world’s net worth. Bitcoin and other coins “are simply the beneficiaries of people making decisions to move assets from one asset class to another to preserve the value of their net worth.”

According to various estimates, the value of all currencies in the world is about $95 trillion, and cryptocurrencies account for about 1% of that. Comparing Bitcoin to money (which can be considered an asset) is not a perfect comparison, but it provides a way to put Bitcoin in perspective. Morphy pointed out that as people look for alternatives to fiat currencies, some of this money is constantly flowing into digital assets.

He added: “Based on its structure, billions of dollars in value will continue to move into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as people seek to preserve and grow their net worth.”

Original article: https://decrypt.co/53352/the-cryptocurrency-market-is-now-worth-more-than-1-trillion

By Liam Frost

Compiled by: Kyle