Having hit a new all-time high of $38,280, Bitcoin is now trading at around $37,950 showing a growth of more than 8% in the past 24 hours.
The global cryptocurrency (crypto) industry has hit a new milestone in its market cap following the impressive rallies of the coins that make up the market. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the total value of the crypto market is now $1,032, 283014,172 and masked by such volatility that can send the value higher in a very short while.Crossing the $1 trillion market cap milestone shows the increasing importance the crypto market is recording in contrast with traditional investment assets. “The $1 trillion mark cements cryptocurrency as an investable asset class that no longer sits on the fringes of Traditional Finance as a toy for retail investors,” said Jack Purdy, decentralized finance analyst at Messari. “It demonstrates that this asset class is large enough to absorb large orders like we’ve seen recently with the slew of institutions entering over the last few months.”While this growth showcases the embracing space has seen in the past months, Nate Maddrey, research analyst at Coin Metrics told Coindesk in a direct message that “Crypto is in a unique position to be the most important asset class of the 21st century and still has a lot of room to grow.”Bitcoin and Ethereum Contribution to the Crypto Market CapThe crypto industry rally that led to the recorded milestone in its market cap was fueled majorly by the huge price gains of Bitcoin (BTC) and to a large extent Ethereum (ETH). Bitcoin saw more than a 300% growth fueled by the massive institutional embrace of the coin both as a hedge against inflation and as a dependable store of value.The big money firms such as MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: BTC) has not only bought up more than 70,000 BTC but has plans to stock up more in line with the company’s Treasury Reserve Policy. Other firms such as London-based asset manager Ruffer Investment also helped boost the rally toward the end of the year by investing as much as $740 million into the coin.Ethereum’s growth cannot also be disregarded in helping to push the total crypto market cap to its new heights. The coin remains the second largest coin with a market capitalization of $136 billion. While Bitcoin appears to have soared beyond the reach of retail investors, many have resorted to stocking up on Ether pushing the coin to $1,200, the highest value in almost three years and value close to the coin’s all-time high price of $1,432.88.DeFi’s Impact Is Also Non-NegligibleWhile the market is in a state of consolidation, the DeFi sector has also seen growth that is not negligible in the overall growth of the crypto market space. While the DeFi ecosystem locked $20 billion in value as reported yesterday, the DeFi market has grown in the past 24 hours to hit $21.99 billion according to DeFi Pulse to add to the total market cap of the crypto industry.
