Over the years, the crypto economy has been on the rise. And this has seen the market value for the crypto market hit the $2.5 trillion mark. This market value is so immense that it has surpassed that of the biggest company in the world-Apple.
You might be wondering how the crypto economy achieved such a significant milestone. This achievement is thanks to the unpredictable returns on investment and privacy of crypto. Similarly, cryptocurrencies have made bypassing state regulators during international transactions easier.
The rise of cryptocurrency began with the development of Bitcoin as the first crypto. And up to now, Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency with a market value of $1.6 trillion.
According to recent research, the number of crypto unicorn companies greatly increased last year, 2021. In fact, these companies increased exponentially by 491% in 2021. With this incredible growth, there isn’t a doubt cryptocurrency is here to stay.
Top Five Cryptocurrencies
The crypto market has grown to over 1,300 cryptocurrencies in the last couple of years. Here are the five most popular cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Bitcoin.
It’s the first cryptocurrency in the crypto market. And up to now, it remains the most commonly used crypto in the world. As stated above, this crypto sits around $1.6 trillion by market capitalization. Over the years, this crypto has been in the spotlight because of significant swings in its price.
Ethereum.
It’s the second most popular crypto. And its market capitalization is above $18 billion. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum is a programmable currency. This nature makes it easy for developers to create apps and other technologies around it. At the same, it can process programs and contracts besides transactions. As a result, this blockchain code has launched numerous crypto so far.
Ripple.
The crypto got founded in 2012. And up to now, it has a market capitalization of more than $10 billion. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Ripple can track other transactions apart from cryptocurrency. And as a result, some banks like Santander and UBS have used this crypto,
Litecoin.
By market capitalization, Litecoin is so far estimated to be worth $5 billion. The development of this crypto was right after that of bitcoin. Therefore these crypto are so much similar in form. Yet, transactions with Litecoin are incredibly faster than with Bitcoin. This speed is thanks to the development of innovations with a great mining algorithm. Also, these innovations have amazing processes that allow for more transactions.
Monero.
Monero is open-source crypto based on Bitcoin. But unlike Bitcoin, it has a highly developed algorithm. This algorithm enhances the security and privacy features of the crypto. However, users are afraid it might not be secure because of its open-source and opacity nature. Thus the weak growth of the crypto.
These cryptocurrencies are just a tiny fraction of the currently existing ones. However, the rest of the cryptocurrencies have a long way to go to catch up with Bitcoin.
Key Trends in Cryptocurrency
Over the years, the crypto market has shown incredible growth. And with key trends playing a significant role in this growth. Here are some of the main trends that have greatly shaped the crypto economy. 1. Future of Finance A significant number of financial institutions have adopted digital assets. And this has disrupted traditional finance and challenged its existence.Over the years, there has been a serious adoption of digital assets. At the same time, institutional investors have held cryptocurrencies in their balance sheets.Also, most businesses and countries have already declared digital assets as legal tender. And many others are on the same journey.Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is among the many trends drawing huge attention in the crypto market. This development involves traditional transfers and payment but on the blockchain network.For many years, middlemen have been a great inconvenience in traditional finance. However, DeFi applications get rid of intermediaries, thus making transactions faster. As a result, DeFi applications are on their way to replacing traditional banking.With DeFi applications, you can enjoy a variety of transactions. A variety of transactions ranging from derivative creation to traditional lending. At the end of last year, 2021, the amount of crypto dedicated to DeFi was worth almost $100 billion. 2. The Rise of NFTs One of the remarkable developments in the crypto industry is Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). NFTs are digital assets that have a digital signature attached to them.By owning these tokens, you have a digital claim over an asset. The item you claim can either be physical or digital.Thanks to NFTs, you can represent your claim on […]
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