Coindesk, a crypto tracker, has placed the total market value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at an unprecedented $2 trillion, just a few months after topping $1 trillion for the first time.
According to Coindesk, as of 16:50 coordinated universal time (12:50 p.m. ET), the 9,115 cryptocurrencies tracked by the website CoinMarketCap.com, had a combined market value of $1.996 trillion, up about 2.6% over the past 24 hours.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently announced a ban on crypto trading in the country.
The total value of all cryptocurrencies topped $1 trillion in early January, bolstered by a powerful bull market in the 12-year-old bitcoin (BTC) as well as rallies in alternative digital assets including ether (ETH), the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain.
Recent announcements of moves into cryptocurrencies by established financial players like Visa, PayPay, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have strengthened traders’ confidence that the industry is seeing greater mainstream adoption.
Bitcoin’s rally over the past year has been fueled by speculation that the oldest and largest cryptocurrency might be useful for investors as a hedge against inflation, in the wake of trillions of dollars of coronavirus-related stimulus injected into financial markets by governments and central banks.
Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, and other digital assets have soared in value partly due to expectations that the tokens can be used in decentralized finance, or DeFi, consisting of automated, blockchain-based software protocols that might someday replace banks and Wall Street trading firms.
