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In the past few years, the cryptocurrency market has been growing exponentially and is evolving rapidly to new businesses and financial solutions. Last time during the bull run of 2017, also known as the bitcoin bubble, we witnessed an increasing demand for the giants of crypto – Bitcoin, Ether, and Ripple, but we also witnessed an incredible surge in volume and price of unknown altcoins. 

What is the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies?

The current total market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market is  $256,077,694,771 at the time of writing. That is $256 billion dollars, according to Coinmarketcap. The majority of the total cryptocurrency market cap comes from Bitcoin, which has a total market cap of $169 billion. In fact, more than half of the entire cryptocurrency market value is Bitcoin.

What other cryptos are behind Bitcoin? And more importantly, what potential does the cryptocurrency market have? With that mindset, here are the top 5 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

The top 5 biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap

Bitcoin – Market capitalization of $169 billion

The beast and the clear leader of the pack is still Bitcoin. That is without any doubt. Bitcoin’s current market cap of $169 billion is 66% of the entire cryptocurrency market cap. And 7.3x times higher than the Ethereum market cap of $23 billion.

A healthy debate regarding Bitcoin’s position or purpose is welcomed. Is it a store of value? Is it a payment asset? Or whatever people want and can define it to I don’t mind. But Bitcoin is more than just one thing. And that is perhaps the problem when we are looking to define something that can’t be boxed into one specific thing. Bitcoin is actually more than that. It is a symbol of something. It is a working product. It is a revolutionary tech invention. Anyway, if you are thinking about investing in Bitcoin check this guide out.

Ethereum – Market capitalization of $23 billion

And number two on the list is Ethereum or more correctly, its cryptocurrency Ether. Ethereum was holding fairly strong since the fall of the crypto market, though not as solid as Bitcoin. Ethereum’s total market cap dropped from $132 billion to today’s value of $23 billion. This means that the current market cap of Ethereum dropped 82%. compared to Bitcoin’s fall of 74%.

Not huge differences, but nonetheless, this can be seen quite similar to Bitcoin’s struggle to find its place in the economic and financial system. However, Ethereum’s issues regarding scalability are on a completely different… scale. In my personal opinion, Ethereum will have to step up with its 2.0 launch and prove it can deliver. So let’s see about that.

Tether – Market capitalization of $8.8 billion

If cryptocurrencies will be widely accepted, there is a need for several stable coins. Is Tether (USDT) is a stable coin that will stay for a long time? Not sure but it seems highly likely. Tether has found itself in troubling attention since its inception (read more), which raised questions regarding about the coin’s reliability and value. 

Yet, stable coins are offering a more stable cryptocurrency, unlike the high volatility of top digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. The use of stable coins can be more significant in the future as it can be a bridge between the blockchain world and the non-blockchain world. Vitalik agrees with me.

Ripple – Market capitalization of $8,6 billion

Ripple has made a huge success by integrating its technology to banks and large financial institutions around the world (so does Ethereum). With American Express, Santander, Moneygram, and others, Ripple (XRP) is showing that it can reduce costs and provide value with global payments.  

Yet, there are questions revolving around the Ripple coin and the technology behind it.  Is Ripple decentralized? Is it a true blockchain? Some people actually believe it doesn’t deserve to be a true cryptocurrency. On the other hand, there are people who believe that Ripple has huge potential.  My opinion is somewhere in between, but I genuinely believe in Ripple’s future. 

Bitcoin Cash – Market capitalization of $4.2 billion

Last on the list is Bitcoin Cash. Here, my opinions will shine through. Technically speaking,  Bitcoin Cash solves some of Bitcoin’s problem, but it adds other problems. That’s my picture of it. The real question is if Bitcoin Cash can actually replace bitcoin as the most dominant cryptocurrency in the market? Moreover, will Bitcoin Cash survive in the tough environment of cryptocurrencies? 

The future will tell.


Conclusion

So that’s my five cents for the top 5 crypto coin in terms of market capitalization. Do you agree with me? What’s your opinion on the market direction? Do you believe any of these cryptos will fall or rise in value? And what about the overall market cap?

If you want to find where to buy any of these cryptos you can use Go CryptoMarket or Coinmarketcap to find exchanges that list these cryptos.

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