Crypto market cap hits a record $2.02 trillion as bitcoin surges past $1 trillion milestone

Bitcoin continues to defy gravity and there is no sign of slowing down. Thanks to the support from institutional and retail investors, bitcoin has been sitting at a little under $60,000. As bitcoin popularity rises so is the entire cryptocurrency market.

According to data from CoinGecko and Blockfolio, the cryptocurrency market capitalization hit an all-time peak of $2 trillion on Monday while bitcoin surges past $1.1 trillion. By mid-afternoon, the crypto market cap was at $2.02 trillion, according to Reuters.

The surge in the overall crypto market cap was led by bitcoin, which hit its own milestone by holding the $1 trillion market cap for one whole week. Bitcoin was last up 1.4% at $59,045. Since hitting a lifetime peak of more than $61,000 in mid-March, bitcoin has since traded in a relatively narrow range.

To put this into perspective, on December 28, 2020, bitcoin was trading at $27,000 which is less than half of the current price of $58,763.30 at the time of writing. Unlike surges from previous years, many Wall Street analysts attributed the recent price rise to backings from institutional support from companies like PayPal. As of writing, one bitcoin equals $27,006, according to pricing data from CoinDesk.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, is not so far behind. Ethereum was up 1.3% at $2,103 which puts its market cap at $244 billion on Monday after hitting a record high of $2,144.99 last Friday.

“Momentum and interest have begun to expand beyond bitcoin and Ethereum,” said Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer, at crypto exchange Bitfinex.

“As the industry continues to mature, we expect more blockchain-based applications to be introduced to the world, and coinciding with that, a surge of interest around other alternative assets…as they become more market-ready,” he added.