How does the market cap of crypto compare to other traditional investments?
Cryptocurrency has had a crazy twelve months, with surges in crypto values making headlines, and many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin hitting their highest ever price. Yet, despite appearing more than ever in the media, crypto is still not perceived as a mainstream investment option by many traditional investors. This could be due to the current volatility seen in the crypto market, with values rising and falling suddenly, making them difficult to predict.
However, as cryptocurrency trading continues to grow and markets continue to rise, the booming market cap of crypto assets makes them difficult to ignore. This made us want to find out just how well the top cryptocurrencies stack up against more traditional investments such as commodities like gold and silver, some of the biggest companies in the world.
With this study, we’ll be able to reveal just how big the crypto market has grown lately, and where it could potentially go in the near future if current trends continue. We’ll find out whether crypto really is being overhyped, as some traditionalists might argue, or if it has solidified its place as a must-have asset of the 21st century.
Here, we’ve looked at the market capitalization of the 30 largest companies and the 30 largest cryptocurrencies, as well as gold and silver, and ranked them from highest to lowest. This will allow us to see how some of the top cryptocurrencies currently stack up against more traditional investment options.
1
Market cap:
Of all the investment opportunities that we looked at, gold has the highest market cap of $11.3 Trillion. Gold has always been considered a precious metal and has been highly valued by humans for thousands of years. However, as it is now widely used in electronics for its conductivity and resistance to corrosion, its value has become both aesthetic and practical. This, combined with the fact that much of the gold used in electronics is never recovered for reuse, has helped to drive the value of gold to this impressive height.
2
Market cap:
The investment option with the second highest market cap is ASML. This Dutch company produces components for the semiconductor industry and has acquired successful high-tech businesses all over the world, from Taiwan to Silicon Valley, to become a juggernaut in their sector. It is the company with the highest market cap in the world.
3
Market cap:
In third place overall, and with the second-highest market cap among individual companies, is Apple, which is worth approximately $2.3 trillion. This technology giant continues to be at the forefront of developments in mobile and computer technology, as well as having instantly recognisable brand design and a cult following all over the world.
1
Market cap:
The cryptocurrency with the highest market cap by quite some way is Bitcoin, with an overall value of $814.5 billion. Bitcoin has become so big that it placed 11th overall in our rankings, with a higher market cap than many of the world’s biggest companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Tencent and Visa. In fact, if we remove gold and silver from the equation, then Bitcoin would come 8th overall, with only seven companies having a higher market cap.
2
Market cap:
Ethereum has the second-highest market cap of any cryptocurrency at $352.3 billion. While still some way behind Bitcoin, Ethereum has solidified its place as the backbone of the blockchain, placing 27th overall and beating the likes of Nestle, Mastercard and PayPal.
Ethereum has also benefited from the recent surge in popularity of NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which are assets created on the blockchain which are therefore virtually impossible to counterfeit. So far, the vast majority of these NFTs have been developed using the Ethereum blockchain, which has helped to drive up the value of the cryptocurrency.
3
Market cap:
Cardano is the third most valuable cryptocurrency, with an overall market capitalization of $66 billion. Cardano has proved to be very popular among the crypto community but has yet to build the same name recognition of Bitcoin and Ethereum. While placing third overall, Cardano’s market cap is still lower than the top 30 companies, suggesting that crypto still has room to plenty of room to grow and catch up with traditional investment options.
|
|
Asset |
Asset Class |
Market Cap 29/09/2021 |
|---|
Here we can see the best investments of 2022 which have grown the most in value between January and September this year. By looking at the same list of companies, cryptocurrencies and commodities as from our ranking of the largest assets by market cap, we can see that cryptocurrencies dominate the fastest growing investments of this year.
1
2021 growth:
Solana has been the best investment option of 2022 so far, with its market cap growing by 3,476% since January to over $41 billion by the end of September. Many investors are optimistic about Solana thanks to the incredible speed and efficiency of its blockchain technology.
2
2021 growth:
The second biggest winner of 2022 is Polygon, with the market cap increasing by 2,859% this year, bringing the total value to just over $5.6 billion. Polygon is a platform for development and scaling on the Ethereum blockchain, and can therefore benefit from increased interest in Ethereum, and vice-versa.
3
2021 growth:
In third place overall, and with the second-highest market cap among individual companies, is Apple, which is worth approximately $2.3 trillion. This technology giant continues to be at the forefront of developments in mobile and computer technology, as well as having instantly recognisable brand design and a cult following all over the world.
As we can see from the data, only two companies made the top twenty investment options for growth in 2022 so far, with the rest being dominated by crypto. Semiconductor company ASML came fifth overall with a growth rate of 1,293%, while Toyota came 11th having grown 555%.
|
|
Asset |
Asset Class |
Market Cap 31/01/2021 |
Market Cap 29/09/2021 |
Growth JAN 2022-Sept 2022 |
|---|
Here we have calculated projections of what the market cap of these commodities, companies and cryptocurrencies could look like by 2024 by looking at the average annual growth rates since 2018. This projection only accounts for those with sufficient historic data stretching back to 2018 for analysis, therefore some cryptocurrencies and companies have been omitted.
1
Projected value January 2024:
ASML could have the highest market cap in January 2024 at an estimated $23.7 trillion. The semiconductor giant is set even to surpass gold which, based on current above ground reserves and historic price growth, could hit a market cap of $15 trillion in January 2024.
2
Projected value January 2024:
Gold will have the second largest market cap in 2024, with the total value of all above-ground reserves reaching $15 trillion. This shows that gold’s dominant market position isn’t going anywhere, with the precious metal continuing to be a strong investment choice well into the future.
3
Projected value January 2024:
With an average annual growth rate of 115.01% over the last four years, Tesla is projected to be the second most valuable company in January 2024, with a market capitalisation of $7.6 trillion.
1
Projected value January 2024:
Bitcoin is set to remain the leader in crypto as its average annual growth rate of 103.5% would see the cryptocurrency hit a market cap of $5.2 trillion by January 2024. It’s projected to be the fifth strongest asset, surpassing long-standing giants including Microsoft, Amazon and Google by over $1 trillion. Despite the volatility of the crypto market, Bitcoin has the potential to outperform some of the world’s most prized companies in the years to come.
2
Projected value January 2024:
In second place is Ethereum with a projected market cap of $5.1 trillion in January 2024. Ethereum is also the second most widely recognised cryptocurrency and has a lot going for it, from the recent NFT craze to a whole host of uses and applications, and even other cryptocurrencies making use of its blockchain. It will equally outperform the current top dogs like Facebook and even silver.
3
Projected value January 2024:
The crypto with the third highest projected market cap in January 2024 is Dai, which could have a total value of $2.5 trillion! This stablecoin cryptocurrency is much less well-known outside of the immediate crypto community, but has soared in value over the past few years. Dai is built on the Ethereum blockchain and is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, which makes it a great choice for carrying out monetary transactions.
|
|
Asset |
Asset Class |
4 Year Average Annual Growth Rate%* |
Jan. 2022 |
Jan. 2023 |
Jan. 2024 |
|---|
*Calculated using yearly growth data for 2018, 2019, 2020, and growth data for 2022 so far.
We wanted to assess the crypto market to find out just how big the top cryptocurrencies have grown by market cap when compared to some of the most valuable companies and commodities in the world. To do this, we first found the 30 largest companies by market cap from Companies Market Cap, along with the 30 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap from Coin Market Cap. We then collected current and historical market cap data for each, using Companies Market Cap for companies, and Coin Codex for cryptocurrencies. We also collected data for the total above ground reserves of gold and silver, as well as current and historical price data for gold and silver from Index Mund to calculate their market caps.
We then ranked all of the companies, commodities and cryptocurrencies by market cap to reveal which are the most valuable, and to see how crypto assets compared to more traditional investment options.
Next, we calculated the growth rate that each option had experienced in 2022, between 31/01/21 and 29/09/21, and used this to rank them in terms that would have been the best investments.
We also wanted to project how the market caps of these different investments might look in the several years. To do this, we found the annual growth rate for each company, commodity and crypto over the last four years, and calculated the average rate for each. This was done using yearly growth data for 2018, 2019, 2020, and growth data for 2022 so far.
We only included the 13 cryptocurrencies that had data spanning this far back for sufficient analysis: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Stellar, Litecoin, Tron, Tether, Dogecoin, Chainlink and Dai. We then used this to project what each asset’s market cap would be in 1, 2 and 3 years’ time, ranking them by their year 3 valuations. You might like: "Best Forex Brokers in the UK"
