- The cumulative market capitalization of the crypto market topped $2 trillion for the first time on Monday.
- The crypto market opened in January valued at approximately $750 billion before hitting $1 trillion for the first time in history.
- A bull run, led by Ethereum, caused the crypto market to exceed a market cap of $2 trillion, a new record.
- While ETH traded above $2,150, other altcoins, including Binance Coin, Litecoin, and XRP, played a major part in the charge.
The crypto industry has broken yet another record, this time topping $2 trillion in market cap. In January, the cumulative capitalization of the digital asset market exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in history.
This market charge is led by Ethereum, the second-largest crypto. Other altcoins, including Litecoin, Ripple’s XRP, and Binance Coin, have also spiked to new highs. The number one crypto, Bitcoin, once again spiked near the $60,000 range.
Ethereum Leads The Altcoin Charge
Opening April at $1,919.16, Ethereum quickly gathered double-digit gains to trade above $2,150 on the 6th of April, a new all-time high for the second-largest crypto.
The price boost gave Ethereum a market capitalization of $244.4 billion. The price means Ethereum is now up by more than 180% year-to-date – having opened the year with a value of $737.71.
Altcoins like Binance Coin, Litecoin, and Ripple’s XRP were also up by double digits. XRP was on a parabolic rise, peaking by more than 35% to trade above $1 for the first time in over a year. The coin now trades at $1.01, with a market cap of $45.8 billion, regardless of the lingering SEC lawsuit.
The bull run pushed the cumulative market cap of the crypto market above $2 trillion – a new record. Bitcoin was not left out of the uptrend, reaching $59,479.58. Bitcoin reached a market cap of $1.1 trillion, more than half of the total crypto market cap.
On the Flipside
- Regardless of the continuous bullish outlook of the crypto market, skeptics have remained negative about cryptos.
- According to Berkshire Hathaway’s vice-chairman, Charlie Munger, the crypto mania is “just dementia.”
- Ulrik Lykke, CEO of crypto-focused hedge fund ARK36, said, “If the market goes completely parabolic and the price hits $100,000 to $300,000 per coin, a big downturn similar to the one we saw in 2018 will probably follow.”
The Crypto Bull Run Continues
The new height reached means that the crypto market is up by more than 100% in the last three months.
In an interview explaining the crypto market bull run, Alex Kruger – a crypto trader and economist – explained that:
I’m expecting continuation upwards in the coming weeks, with Bitcoin lagging. The issue for this market is that leverage heats up too easily whenever Bitcoin pushes higher. That’s a headwind.
Paolo Ardoino, the chief technology officer at crypto exchange Bitfinex opined that as the crypto industry continues to mature, there will be more blockchain projects. As the market expands, there is likely to be a shift in the concentration that Bitcoin currently holds.
Other crypto analysts have remained bullish in their forecasts for the rest of 2021, with different predictions about how the year will end. A Bloomberg analyst has forecast that the Bitcoin price could hit $400,000 this year or $65,000 this weekend.
The founder of Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Economics, Mati Greenspan, thinks that the current $2 trillion market cap of the crypto market is just the tip of the iceberg, and we could be celebrating higher positions before the year is out.
