CoinGecko says the cryptocurrency market cap reaches a record high of $3.2 trillion

The value of the global cryptocurrency market has surpassed $3 trillion, with the election of Donald Trump as US president spurring bets that friendlier US regulation could lead to a new boom for all corners of the asset class.

The total market value of cryptocurrencies reached a high of nearly $3.2 trillion early on November 14 in Asia, according to analytics and data aggregator CoinGecko.

That puts it above the heady days of 2021, when pandemic-era stimulus fueled an infusion of speculative investments, and represents a stunning rebound from just a few months ago when cryptocurrency prices and trading volume were flat and forecasts were bland.

Bitcoin dominates the market and the market cap hit coincided with the token rising to a record high of $93,480.

“In general, the way this market is going is that bitcoin will boom and then the rest of the altcoins will follow,” said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at crypto asset manager Astronaut Capital.

“So there is a gradual turnover of capital… and then we can expect the overall market capitalization to increase.”

The election of Trump, and the election of several pro-crypto lawmakers to Congress, has fueled a wave of euphoria by seemingly removing some of the uncertainty over US regulations.

Bitcoin has doubled this year and has risen 30% since the US elections on November 5 to $90,000. The value of the smaller ether coin has risen by about 33% since the vote to $3,220.

The value of Dogecoin, an alternative and volatile currency promoted by billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk, rose by 140%.

Cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds were also bought heavily, which could be an indication of buying by financial institutions that tend to move away from holding cryptocurrencies directly, market participants said.

“Bitcoin enthusiasts are known for their bold predictions, but hitting $100,000 by the end of the year seems possible,” said Carl Zanter, founder and managing partner at Blockstone Capital.

Deja vu

The explosive rise is the latest in a boom-and-bust roller coaster that had Bitcoin below $20,000 at the start of last year, in the depths of the “crypto winter” that followed the collapse of brokerage firm FTX and other cryptocurrency projects.

The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is certainly dwarfed by traditional asset classes. At current prices, the value of the 209,000 tons of gold, which the World Gold Council says have been extracted throughout history, is approximately $19 trillion.

The market cap of the S&P 500 is $50.6 trillion.

Some parts of the ecosystem are showing no signs of recovery, while other parts are indicating a degree of caution. Average sales prices for non-fungible tokens have been around $2,000 since May, according to NonFungible.com, which tracks the Ethereum and Ronin blockchains, and have risen, but only to about $2,700.

In Singapore, DBS Bank, which runs a digital exchange, said that although trading was up and more than a third of last year’s total volume was sold out in the first 10 days of November, investors had not yet turned to the more obscure parts of the market. market.

“We have not seen our clients shift their assets towards more exotic platforms or decentralized exchanges,” said David Howe, chief commercial officer of DBS Digital Exchange.

However, industry insiders say renewed interest will bring momentum.

“There is a growing interest and desire to look into decentralized finance and other possibilities associated with blockchain,” said Danny Chung, co-founder of decentralized asset tracking platform Tranchess.

“The increasing market capitalization, which if sustained for a longer period, will also likely call for deeper interest in new and existing topics,” including the tokenization of real-world assets and blockchain-based payment services, he said.