Cryptocurrency continues its incredible rise, with the combined market capitalization of all digital currencies reaching $ 500 billion. According to Wayback Machine, on December 15, 2016 – almost exactly a year ago – the total market capitalization was about $ 15 billion. Current price movements bring the total return of the entire sector to about 3,333%, from one year to the next. Almost everyone who owned crypto a year ago, and still holds it, is a winner.

Until we arrived

A year ago, the top ten digital currencies and their capital markets were:

Bitcoin, 12.5 billion dollars Ethereum, 713 million dollars Ripple, $ 241 million Litecoin, $ 177 million Monero, $ 114 million Classical Ethereum, $ 86 million $ Scoreboard, $ 64 million Steem, $ 41 million MaidSafeCoin , $ 37 million Augure, $ 34 million

Today, the list looks like:

Bitcoin, $ 292.7 billion Ethereum, $ 58.8 billion ] Bitcoin Cash, $ 27.5 Billion Litecoin, 18 Billion Dollars Ripple, $ 14.6 Billion ] IOTA, 12.8 billion dollars Dash, 7 billion dollars NMS, 5 billion dollars Monero, 4.7 billion dollars Bitcoin Gold, 4.6 billion dollars ]

Last year, two of these currencies (Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold) did not even exist, and at least one (IOTA) was only traded over-the-counter at inco yably low. At the time, only the top five cryptocurrencies had crossed the market capitalization threshold of $ 100 million; today, the 23 major digital currencies have a market capitalization greater than $ 1 billion. To find a currency with "only" a market capitalization of 100 million dollars, it is necessary to go down to the number 90 on the list.

Bubble or curve in S?

Many experts, especially those in the world of "traditional finance," believe that the digital currency market is in an epic bubble. Bitcoin-hater and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, also call Bitcoin a bubble, but refuse to sell the currency because it thinks it could reach $ 100,000. Global Chief Economist of the Swiss bank UBS recently wrote:

"The bubble to end all bubbles continues.Cryptocurrencies have value only if they are accepted as However, they can not be used for the largest transaction in an economy, and the supply of cryptocurrency can only go up and never fall (making it a poor value stock).

being in a bubble, it is good to remember that the bubbles of the past often lasted for years and grew much more than we expected. to be right about his $ 100,000 Bitcoin prediction.In this case, before the bubble burst, many of you who are reading this today will be millionaires – and some of them will you will be billionaires.

Yet, there are signs that this do not be a bubble at all. Technology tends to follow a so-called "S-curve" where adoptions grow slowly at first, then increase exponentially in an almost vertical line, and then flatten again once the mass adoption takes place. is reached. If the adoption of digital currency actually follows an S curve, the massive crash that many expect may never happen. While hollows and peaks are expected, a breathtaking 80-90% correction may not happen.