The Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2025, as values exceeded over 95,508.31 USD on November 16, 2025. Price hikes in early 2025 were connected to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, while previous hikes in 2021 were due to events involving Tesla and Coinbase, respectively. Tesla's announcement in March 2021 that it had acquired 1.5 billion U.S. dollars' worth of the digital coin, for example, as well as the IPO of the U.S.'s biggest crypto exchange, fueled mass interest. The market was noticeably different by the end of 2022, however, after another crypto exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy.Is the world running out of Bitcoin?Unlike fiat currency like the U.S. dollar - as the Federal Reserve can simply decide to print more banknotes - Bitcoin's supply is finite: BTC has a maximum supply embedded in its design, of which roughly 89 percent had been reached in April 2021. It is believed that Bitcoin will run out by 2040, despite more powerful mining equipment. This is because mining becomes exponentially more difficult and power-hungry every four years, a part of Bitcoin's original design. Because of this, a Bitcoin mining transaction could equal the energy consumption of a small country in 2021.Bitcoin's price outlook: a potential bubble?Cryptocurrencies have few metrics available that allow for forecasting, if only because it is rumored that only a few cryptocurrency holders own a large portion of the available supply. These large holders - referred to as 'whales'-are' said to make up two percent of anonymous ownership accounts, while owning roughly 92 percent of BTC. On top of this, most people who use cryptocurrency-related services worldwide are retail clients rather than institutional investors. This means outlooks on whether Bitcoin prices will fall or grow are difficult to measure, as movements from one large whale are already having a significant impact on this market.

By 2025, the Bitcoin market cap had grown to over ******** billion USD as the cryptocurrency kept growing. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the total number of Bitcoins in circulation by the Bitcoin price. The Bitcoin market capitalization increased from approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in 2013 to several times this amount since its surge in popularity. Dominance The Bitcoin market cap takes up a significant portion of the overall cryptocurrency market cap. This is referred to as "dominance". Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrics available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market — effectively showing how strong Bitcoin compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins". The Bitcoin dominance was above ** percent. Maximum supply and scarcity Bitcoin is unusual from other cryptocurrencies in that its maximum supply is getting closer. By 2025, well over ** million out of all 21 million possible Bitcoin had been created. Bitcoin's supply is expected to reach its maximum around the year 2140, likely making mining more energy-intensive.

Prices for BTCUSD Bitcoin US Dollar including live quotes, historical charts and news. BTCUSD Bitcoin US Dollar was last updated by Trading Economics this November 30 of 2025.

View daily updates and historical trends for Bitcoin Market Cap. Source: Blockchain.com. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

The average price of one Bitcoin Cash reached its all-time high in 2017, although the price since then never came close to that position. As of November 16, 2025, one Bitcoin Cash token was worth 502.16 U.S. dollars, rather than the nearly 2,500 USD from the peak in 2017. Bitcoin Cash, abbreviated as BCH, is a variant of the much more known Bitcoin, or BTC, and is traded separately on online exchanges. That the two cryptocurrencies are different from each other already shows when looking at the price of a 'regular' Bitcoin: this was over 40,000 U.S. dollars during the same time frame.

Bitcoin ranked as one of the most expensive cryptocurrencies as of November 2025—although values changed noticeably. Bitcoin had been the most expensive cryptocurrency for a while, but Ethereum was significantly cheaper, with a price that was roughly 30 times less than that of the most well-known digital currency. However, Bitcoin is in a unique position. Ethereum is one of several cryptocurrencies, for instance, that come from blockchains that focus on making financial applications possible. Bitcoin, or a digital equivalent of gold When one categorizes the different types of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin stands out as it is one of the few that are essentially meant to store digital value. Some describe Bitcoin as a digital version of gold, purely designed to hold or possibly purchasing power over time. It has no other applications built around it, and is considered too slow to perform financial transactions. Stablecoins, the less volatile cryptocurrency Many coins in this ranking stand out as their price seemingly has not changed as much as others. This is because these are stablecoins - cryptocurrencies pegged to the price development of an external asset. This group of digital assets comprises an increasing share within the overall crypto market. Some see these coins as the future of retail payments, whereas others view these coins as a “safe” addition to their crypto investments.

View daily updates and historical trends for Bitcoin Transactions Per Day. Source: Blockchain.com. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

Following NFT hype and growing demand in the DeFi community, the price of cryptocurrency Solana, or SOL, more than tripled during the summer of 2021. This had all but evaporated by the end of 2022, as a price of 139.59 U.S. dollars for SOL on November 16, 2025, was similar to the price of Solana in early 2021. The collapse of crypto trader FTX in 2022 especially impacted the cryptocurrency, as FTX and its sister firm Alameda Research sold a large amount of the coin to avoid bankruptcy. The Solana protocol is similar to Ethereum in that it can allow for non-fungible tokens to be created ('minted') or traded. Solana, however, uses a technology called 'PoH' or Proof of History, which allows it to reach high transaction speeds. The Solana Foundation, the creators of the protocol, based in Switzerland, claims they could reach up to 65,000 transactions per second compared to 16 for Ethereum. Additionally, Solano had no transaction fees or 'gas', unlike Ethereum, which had growing transaction costs. These two reasons combined - Solana being deemed cheaper and faster than Ethereum - turned this relatively young protocol into a breeding ground for NFT projects in August 2021.

Bitcoin's circulating supply has grown steadily since its inception in 2009, reaching over ***** million coins by early October 2025. This gradual increase reflects the cryptocurrency's design, which put a limit of ** million on the total number of bitcoins that can ever exist. This impacts the Bitcoin price somewhat, as its scarcity can lead to volatility on the market. Maximum supply and scarcity Bitcoin is unusual from other cryptocurrencies in that its maximum supply is getting closer. By October 2025, more than ** percent of all possible Bitcoin had been created. That said, Bitcoin's circulating supply is expected to reach its maximum around the year 2140. Meanwhile, mining becomes exponentially more difficult and energy-intensive. Institutional investors In 2025, countries like the United States openly started discussing the possibility of buying bitcoins to hold in reserve. By the time of writing, it was unclear whether this would happen. Nevertheless, institutional investors displayed more interest in the cryptocurrency than before. Certain companies owned several thousands of Bitcoin tokens in 2025, for example. This and the limited number of Bitcoin may further fuel price volatility.

A league table of the *** cryptocurrencies with the highest market cap reveals how diverse each crypto is and potentially how much risk is involved when investing in one. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, had a so-called “high cap”—a “market cap worth more than ** billion U.S. dollars—indicating this crypto project has a certain track record or, at the very least, is considered a major player in the cryptocurrency space. This is different in Decentralize Finance (DeFi), where Bitcoin is only a relatively new player. A concentrated market The number of existing cryptocurrencies is several thousands, even if most have a limited significance. Indeed, Bitcoin and Ethereum account for nearly ** percent of the entire crypto market capitalization. As crypto is relatively easy to create, the range of projects varies significantly—from improving payments to solving real-world issues, but also meme coins and more speculative investments. Crypto is not considered a payment method While often talked about as an investment vehicle, cryptocurrencies have not yet established a clear use case in day-to-day life. Central bankers found the usefulness of crypto in domestic payments or remittances to be negligible. A forecast for the world's main online payment methods took a similar stance: It predicts that cryptocurrency would only take up *** percent of total transaction value by 2027.

Bitcoin is edging closer to reaching its finite, maximum supply, pushing its price up and making it harder to mine. As a rule of thumb, the fewer coins available to the general audience, the higher the value of the cryptocurrency becomes. No more mining is possible when a cryptocurrency reaches its maximum supply. The market price then reflects supply and demand. Bitcoin has a set limit of ** million coins, the last of which is to be mined around the year 2140, according to a 2017 forecast—with the assumption that the rate of Bitcoin mining halves every 4 years. Why are there so many differences in crypto supply? Cryptocurrency developers can determine whether a coin should have a fixed limit, depending on the blockchain it utilizes or monetary strategies. Ethereum has no maximum supply, meaning miners can create and indefinitely extract this cryptocurrency. This is called an inflationary cryptocurrency, one that continuously inflates the supply. The idea is that the number of tokens in circulation keeps outpacing demand, decreasing overall value. Some coins limit the release of their (indefinite) supply or even destroy (burn) tokens. Such deflationary events took place with LUNA in 2022. The appeal of low-supply cryptocurrency for investors Crypto investors tend to be on the lookout for crypto with limited supply, ideally with low levels. After a token reaches maximum supply, the argument goes, the coin's supply becomes static - miners can no longer create new coins. The demand should continue to grow. A maximum cap, they hope, guarantees value gains. Not many such coins exist. DeFi platform AAVE is an example of a cryptocurrency with a max supply smaller than *** million.

Ethereum's price history suggests that that crypto was worth more in 2025 than during late 2021, although nowhere near the highest price recorded. Much like Bitcoin (BTC), the price of ETH went up in 2021 but for different reasons altogether: Ethereum, for instance, hit the news when a digital art piece was sold as the world's most expensive NFT for over 38,000 ETH - or 69.3 million U.S. dollars. Unlike Bitcoin, of which the price growth was fueled by the IPO of the U.S.'s biggest crypto trader, Coinbase, the rally on Ethereum came from technological developments that caused much excitement among traders. First, the so-called 'Berlin update' rolled out on the Ethereum network in April 2021, an update that would eventually lead to the Ethereum Merge in 2022 and reduced ETH gas prices - or reduced transaction fees. The collapse of FTX in late 2022, however, changed much for the cryptocurrency. As of November 13, 2025, Ethereum was worth 3,409.61 U.S. dollars - significantly less than the 4,400 U.S. dollars by the end of 2021.Ethereum's future and the DeFi industryPrice developments on Ethereum are difficult to predict but cannot be seen without the world of DeFi, or decentralized finance. This industry used technology to remove intermediaries between parties in a financial transaction. One example includes crypto wallets such as Coinbase Wallet that grew in popularity recently, with other examples including smart contractor Uniswap, Maker (responsible for stablecoin DAI), moneylender Dharma and market protocol Compound. Ethereum's future developments are tied with this industry: Unlike Bitcoin and Ripple, Ethereum is technically not a currency but an open-source software platform for blockchain applications, with Ether being the cryptocurrency that is used inside the Ethereum network. Essentially, Ethereum facilitates DeFi, meaning that if DeFi does well, so does Ethereum.NFTs: the most well-known application of EthereumNFTs or non-fungible tokens, grew nearly tenfold between 2018 and 2020, as can be seen in the market cap of NFTs worldwide. These digital blockchain assets can essentially function as a unique code connected to a digital file, allowing to distinguish the original file from any potential copies. This application is especially prominent in crypto art, although there are other applications: gaming, sports, and collectibles are other segments where NFT sales occur.

Ripple, or XRP, prices surged in 2021 but went down significantly as 2022 progressed. As of November 16, 2025, one XRP token was worth 2.24 U.S. dollars. Ethereum's price, for example, kept on reaching new all-time highs, a feat not performed by XRP. Indeed, XRP's price spikes followed relatively late - only occurring in early 2021, against late 2020 for most other cryptos - after the US SEC filed a legal complaint against Ripple in November 2020. This legal action caused the XRP price to plummet from around 0.70 U.S. dollars to 0.20 U.S. dollars.Ripple versus XRP: two become oneTechnically speaking, Ripple is not a cryptocurrency. Renamed from a protocol called OpenCoin in 2013, Ripple facilitates open-source payments. XRP, on the other hand, is the cryptocurrency that runs on this network. In that sense, Ripple and XRP have a similar symbiosis to each other, like the Ethereum network and its cryptocurrency, Ether. Unlike Ethereum - whose price changes are connected to the world of Decentralized Finance or DeFI - Ripple/XRP mostly looks at developments in cross-border payments for companies. In 2020, companies worldwide began to favor fintech solutions for future B2B solutions and, in a way, Ripple is an extension of that.What affects the price of Ripple?Ripple is mostly active in Southeast Asia - a region with a splintered payment landscape and that heavily investigates its own types of state-issued cryptocurrency to make cross-border payments a lot easier. Price spikes tend to follow news on this topic in this specific region. In 2019, for example, the XRP price grew after Japan and South Korea began testing to reduce time and costs for transferring international funds between the two countries. In March 2021, Ripple announced that it had agreed to acquire 40 percent of Malaysian cross-border payments firm Tranglo to meet growing demand in Southeast Asia.

Swiss cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) witnessed a price surge of nearly 100 percent in seven days in early February 2021, amid high interest from investors. One reason for this interest is the digital coin's close relation to Ethereum (ETH), as mathematician Charles Hoskinson co-founded both virtual currencies. Moreover, like Ethereum, ADA has an open-source format, meaning anybody can develop this currency further. As of November 16, 2025, one ADA token was worth 0.5 U.S. dollars.

Crypto trader CoinUp.io ranked among the largest cryptocurrency exchangers in the world in 2025, with trading volume that was about four times as high as Picol or Pionex. Binance was the second leading exchanger in the ranking, with trading volume over 16 billion U.S. dollars as of November 27, 2025. It should be noted that these figures are separate from the platforms Binance.US, Binance TR, or Binance.KR. The platform from the Cayman Islands faced investigations from the U.S. SEC, which came to a head in November 2023. Binance did not rank as the most used cryptocurrency exchange used by consumers in the United States. Binance's settlement with the U.S. In November 2023, Binance agreed to pay a four billion U.S. dollar settlement with United States agencies — one of the biggest corporate fines in U.S. history. The U.S. Department of Justice investigated the platform for years for failure to prevent money laundering and growing crypto theft. The company's founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to the charges, agreeing to step down. Zhao would remain as the company's majority shareholder. The U.S. Treasury announced Binance will be subject to five years of monitoring and “significant compliance undertakings, including to ensure Binance’s complete exit from the United States.” Mixed signals from crypto companies The Binance settlement occurred in a month when overall crypto trading volume recorded its highest numbers for all of 2023. One of the main causes is the sudden popularity of FTT, a token released by FTX — the company founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The developments surrounding Binance caused investors to move away from Binance's stablecoin BNB to the stablecoin from FTX. Earlier in November 2023, however, Coinbase saw its shares fall after announcing its quarterly performance figures.

The market cap of Solana, a cryptocurrency connected with Decentralized Finance or DeFi, grew by *** percent in the summer of 2021. Originally launched only in **********, the rapid growth in 2021 made the digital coin one of the biggest in the world in terms of market capitalization. The altcoin's move into the spotlight coincided with the growing interest in NFTs and especially DeFi, as Solana is one of the biggest blockchains in this world. It is seen as a direct competitor to Ethereum, in that it can power decentralized applications, but in a more efficient way. Solana is said, for instance, to reach transaction speeds that are similar to a VISA transaction whilst using far less energy than Bitcoin miners.

The market capitalization of stablecoin Tether in November 2021 was roughly ************* U.S. dollars higher than it was *** month before. In 2021, Tether ranks as *** of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world and is regarded as the most well-known "stablecoin", or cryptocurrency that is connected to the price development of another, real-world asset. This particular segment made up roughly half of the overall value locked in Decentralized Finance or DeFi.

The market cap of cryptocurrency Algorand nearly tripled between August and September 2021, and initially continued to grow in November 2021. The rise of the ALGO coin in September was noticeable, as it came in a time when the market cap of Bitcoin and other digital coins was declining. The Algorand coin is similar to Ethereum, Cardano, Solana and Polkadot in that is powers its own layer 1 blockchain, an environment for smart contracts and essential for setting up Decentralized Finance or DeFi projects. The market cap increase in September likely reflects a sentiment that Algorand has the potential to become a new Solana.

Somewhat resembling developments of Dogecoin in early 2021, the market cap of Shiba Inu (SHIB) more than tripled in only a few weeks. This rapid growth especially occurred since September 2021, with the cryptocurrency breaking the ** billion U.S. dollar barrier multiple in the following month. Whilst no exact reason was given why the memecoin grew so fast during this time, the digital currency did become available on Coinbase, one of the world's most well-known crypto exchanges, on September 17. This move, and the fact that consumers in the U.S. and the UK overall tend to invest in crypto for fun or as a potential growth investment, might explain the popularity of the dog-themed coin. Indeed, Shiba Inu ranked as the number ** cryptocurrency in the world based on market cap in late October 2021 - closely behind DeFi-affilated like Uniswap (UNI) and Terra (LUNA).