The market cap for all cryptocurrencies surpassed $4 trillion, according to CoinGecko data, as a rally in altcoins like XRP (XRP) and ether (ETH) continues, with traders rotating out of bitcoin (BTC).
This uncharted territory for crypto pushed the CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a measure of the performance of the largest digital assets, past 4,000. The index is up 35% in the past month.
Crypto’s market cap passed $3 trillion for the first time in November 2021, marking the peak of a pandemic-fueled bull market driven by loose monetary policy, surging institutional interest, and speculative mania across NFTs, DeFi, and gaming tokens.
However, that moment proved fleeting: markets soon turned as macroeconomic tightening took hold, and high-profile collapses like Terra and FTX sent valuations spiraling, with bitcoin dropping as low as $15,625.
It would take three long years and a new political cycle for crypto to reclaim that high-water mark.
In November 2024, bitcoin surged 36%, its fourth-strongest monthly performance since October 2021, after Donald Trump’s re-election rekindled risk appetite among investors betting on a deregulatory crypto policy pivot in Washington, culminating in the recent passing of the GENIUS Act.
With analysts saying that the top for BTC is « nowhere near, » crypto may surpass the next trillion-dollar valuation far faster than the last, potentially in a matter of months rather than years, as capital rotates into altcoins and institutional inflows accelerate across spot ETFs and on-chain assets.
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