2024 witnessed remarkable growth in the cryptocurrency market, surpassing the economies of some of the most prosperous nations globally.
On December 9th, the cryptocurrency market cap reached an all-time high of $3.71 trillion, surpassing the GDP of France ($3.17 T) and briefly exceeding the total wealth of the UK ($3.58T).
Currently, the cryptocurrency market cap has retreated slightly to $3.46T as of this moment, falling just below the GDP of the UK.
Focus on India and Japan in the Crypto Market Cap Scenario
The upcoming targets for the cryptocurrency market cap are major Asian countries, especially with the anticipated growth during the pro-crypto era led by Donald Trump.
Based on IMF projections, India ($3.8T), Japan ($4T), and Germany ($4.7T) could see their GDPs overtaken if the cryptocurrency market expands to $5T.
In the year 2024, the cryptocurrency market doubled from $1.56T to $3.7T, primarily fueled by significant factors such as the introduction of U.S. spot Bitcoin [BTC] ETFs and the optimistic outlook stemming from the pro-cryptocurrency Trump administration.
Post the ETF approval in January, the market surged to $2.7T, marking further growth beyond $3T following Trump’s triumph in the U.S. presidential elections.
With BTC’s dominance above 50% ($1.93T), the leading cryptocurrency has played a substantial role in the recent expansion of the crypto market.
Bitcoin’s value increased by 130% year-to-date, positioning it as the seventh-largest asset in terms of market capitalization, slightly trailing Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) valuation of $2.15T.
Additionally, Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse has forecasted that the overall cryptocurrency market could reach $5T by the conclusion of 2024.
Earlier in November, Standard Chartered predicted that the market might skyrocket to $10T during the Trump administration’s tenure. If the aim of $5T to $10T is achieved, the cryptocurrency market size could potentially rank third globally, following the U.S. and China.