There’s no doubt that the crypto market remains a volatile and fast-growing space and one that continues to see numerous peaks and troughs on a quarterly basis.
For example, the total market capitalization value of the crypto market broke through the $2 trillion mark on the back of Bitcoin’s (BTC’s) sustained bull run, before plummeting to barely half this total as the market collapsed through June and July.
It has since grown once more to $2.30 trillion, however, while the value of BTC remains nearly five times higher than it did exactly one year ago. In this post, we’ll ask what’s behind the rapid growth of this market and the explosion of crypto investments during the last 18 months.
The Rise and Rise of Crypto Investment
When BTC prices first began to peak and break through the £30,000 barrier in January and February this year, it should come as no surprise that there was a rush to market and new investors sought to claim their share of this lucrative asset.
What’s more, the subsequent adoption of altcoins in May also attracted new investors to the marketplace, creating a scenario where the worldwide crypto populace multiplied from 100 million to 200 million inside the space of only four months.
Overall, the number of worldwide crypto users had reached 221 million by the end of June, as new altcoin users, in particular, flocked to high-growth tokens such as Dogecoin and Litecoin in their droves. Of course, the term ‘altcoins’ describes tokens that followed hot on the heels of BTC, with many of these assets correlated strongly with Bitcoin’s price fluctuations.
This is borne out by the numbers, which reveal that while the price of BTC is up around 45% since the beginning of the year, altcoins such as Dogecoin have seen their own value increase by a staggering 3,663% during the same period.
What’s Behind This Rise?
Ultimately, there’s no doubt that BTC’s incredible bull run has inspired this trend, with this following a similar pattern to previous bull runs in 2017 and previously.
However, this isn’t the only factor in play, as the emergence of crypto assets and tokens such as BTC into the consumer mainstream has also played a critical role in recent trends.
Make no mistake; talk of increased adoption in the mainstream financial services sector has proved influential, as has the backing of high-profile entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk.
Remember, the price of BTC and similar assets remains incredibly reliant on market sentiment, and the increasingly favorable perception of crypto assets amongst investors has helped to trigger seismic price hikes since October last year.
Of course, it also helps that investors can now use platforms like Tickmill to trade a wider range of crypto assets, as they look to incorporate into an existing currency portfolio.
This has certainly helped to boost the global crypto population, and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future at least.