The combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies hit $2 trillion for the first time Monday, making cryptocurrency as a whole approximately as valuable as Apple, the second-largest company in the world.
Data released by CoinGecko and other cryptocurrency analysis groups revealed that the market as a whole pushed beyond $2 trillion on April 5. The milestone comes less than three months after it surpassed $1 trillion in overall value on January 7. Crypto investors and other supporters of decentralized finance factions, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, rejoiced at the news Monday morning, taking to social media to reiterate that cryptocurrencies are the future of world finance.
Institutional and retail investors have flocked to the cryptocurrency market since the start of the year, analysts said, pushing many blockchain backers to encourage others to join the massive movement into decentralized finance.
"#BTC is still just consolidating inside this range. It is this consolidation that has helped $ETH breakout to new All Time Highs. #ETH is arguably leading the market whereas $BTC is trying to catch up. Good sign so far is that orange resistance is struggling to reject #Bitcoin," wrote the pseudonymous trader known as "Rekt Capital" on Monday.
Other top investors in cryptocurrency once again touted the market's bullish ability to defy potential regulators and thrive moving forward.
"Decentralized finance (DeFi) is as significant an innovation as double entry accounting and is a great example of how Ethereum is leveraging blockchain technology," said cryptocurrency investor and entrepreneur, Correll Lashbrook, to Newsweek on Monday, adding that he's "more interested in tech than being greedy."
"Crypotcurrencies are now worth $2 trillion," Blockfolio tweeted Monday morning, prompting optimistic replies, including, "Cryptocurrencies will soon be worth $5 trillion."
Numerous factors and theories emerged to explain the rapid expansion of the market, with the strong recent performance of ETH as well as Bitcoin's approach to $60,000 topping the list.
Leading New York investment manager Cathie Wood of Ark Invest told The Times of London newspaper on Monday that Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, will "comfortably" eclipse gold's $10 trillion market capitalization.
Bitcoin's volatility has dropped to its lowest level since November 2020, CoinTelegraph reported on Monday, noting that its value has nearly doubled since January 7, when its price was around $33,000. It has remained steady above $50,000 for nearly one month, which has helped Ether and the altcoin market from "seeing a severe pullback."
Major changes within the cryptocurrency market were announced simultaneously on Monday. The website domain for Bitcoin.com was put up for sale at a price of $100 million, GoDaddy announced, adding that bitcoin.co.uk sold for more than $25,000.
At midday, the market cap for cryptocurrencies as a whole hit $2.02 trillion. Newsweek reached out to several Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether figures on Monday for additional remarks about the successful expansion.
After Morgan Stanley last week announced it would begin offering access to Bitcoin funds for its wealthy clients, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told bitcoin.com that more and more banks will increase exposure to the crypto market in the coming months.
"It could be as much as a trillion dollars comes over the next year from that giant group of wealth," he said.
