The Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2025, as values exceeded over 117,482.47 USD on July 22, 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.

Prices for USCBTC USD Coin Bitcoin including live quotes, historical charts and news. USCBTC USD Coin Bitcoin was last updated by Trading Economics this July 24 of 2025.

In March 2024 Bitcoin BTC reached a new all-time high with prices exceeding 73000 USD marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market This surge was due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds ETFs in the United States allowing investors to access Bitcoin without directly holding it This development increased Bitcoin’s credibility and brought fresh demand from institutional investors echoing previous price surges in 2021 when Tesla announced its 15 billion investment in Bitcoin and Coinbase was listed on the Nasdaq By the end of 2022 Bitcoin prices dropped sharply to 15000 USD following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its bankruptcy which caused a loss of confidence in the market By August 2024 Bitcoin rebounded to approximately 64178 USD but remained volatile due to inflation and interest rate hikes Unlike fiat currency like the US dollar Bitcoin’s supply is finite with 21 million coins as its maximum supply By September 2024 over 92 percent of Bitcoin had been mined Bitcoin’s value is tied to its scarcity and its mining process is regulated through halving events which cut the reward for mining every four years making it harder and more energy-intensive to mine The next halving event in 2024 will reduce the reward to 3125 BTC from its current 625 BTC The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined around 2140 The energy required to mine Bitcoin has led to criticisms about its environmental impact with estimates in 2021 suggesting that one Bitcoin transaction used as much energy as Argentina Bitcoin’s future price is difficult to predict due to the influence of large holders known as whales who own about 92 percent of all Bitcoin These whales can cause dramatic market swings by making large trades and many retail investors still dominate the market While institutional interest has grown it remains a small fraction compared to retail Bitcoin is vulnerable to external factors like regulatory changes and economic crises leading some to believe it is in a speculative bubble However others argue that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of adoption and will grow further as more institutions and governments recognize its potential as a hedge against inflation and a store of value 2024 has also seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network which improve scalability by enabling faster and cheaper transactions These innovations are crucial for Bitcoin’s wider adoption especially for day-to-day use and cross-border remittances At the same time central bank digital currencies CBDCs are gaining traction as several governments including China and the European Union have accelerated the development of their own state-controlled digital currencies while Bitcoin remains decentralized offering financial sovereignty for those who prefer independence from government control The rise of CBDCs is expected to increase interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against these centralized currencies Bitcoin’s journey in 2024 highlights its growing institutional acceptance alongside its inherent market volatility While the approval of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly boosted interest the market remains sensitive to events like exchange collapses and regulatory decisions With the limited supply of Bitcoin and improvements in its transaction efficiency it is expected to remain a key player in the financial world for years to come Whether Bitcoin is currently in a speculative bubble or on a sustainable path to greater adoption will ultimately be revealed over time.

Bitcoin dominance steadily declined in April 2024 to below ** percent, amid rumors of central banks halting or potentially lowering interest rates in the future. 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". Why dominance matters is because market caps of any crypto can change relatively quickly, either due to sudden price changes or a change of recorded trading volume. Essentially, the figure somewhat resembles a trading sentiment, revealing whether Bitcoin investors are responding to certain events or whether Bitcoin is losing out on functions offered by, for example, stablecoins or NFT tokens. "Dominance" criticism: Ethereum and stablecoin The interpretation of the Bitcoin metric is not without its criticism. When first conceived, Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to be created and had a substantial market share within all cryptocurrencies? The overall share of stablecoins, such as Tether, as well as Ethereum increasingly start to resemble that of Bitcoin, however. Some analysts argue against this comparison. For one, they point towards the large influence of trading activity between Bitcoin and Ethereum in the dominance metric. Second, they argue that stablecoins can be traded in for Bitcoin and Ethereum, essentially showing how much investors are willing to engage with "regular" cryptocurrency. A rally around Bitcoin in late 2023? By December 2023, the Bitcoin price reached roughly 41,000 U.S. dollars — the first time in 20 months such a value was reached. A weaker U.S. dollar, speculation on decreasing interest rates, and a potential Bitcoin ETF approval are believed to be at the heart of this price increase. Whether this will hold in 2024 is unclear: The monthly interest rate from the U.S. Fed is speculated to decrease in 2024, despite a vow of "higher for longer". In December 2023, the thought of decreasing interest rates and the potential of a Bitcoin ETF fuelled market sentiment towards riskier assets.

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.

This line chart displays lowest price by datetime using the aggregation sum. The data is filtered where the crypto is Bitcoin. The data is about cryptos per hour.

The Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2025, as values exceeded over 117,901.63 USD on July 20, 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.

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 July 22, 2025, one Bitcoin Cash token was worth 523.41 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.

Context

Things like Block chain, Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, Ripple etc are constantly coming in the news articles I read. So I wanted to understand more about it and this post helped me get started. Once the basics are done, the data scientist inside me started raising questions like:

1. How many cryptocurrencies are there and what are their prices and valuations?
2. Why is there a sudden surge in the interest in recent days?

So what next? Now that we have the price data, I wanted to dig a little more about the factors affecting the price of coins. I started of with Bitcoin and there are quite a few parameters which affect the price of Bitcoin. Thanks to Blockchain Info, I was able to get quite a few parameters on once in two day basis.

This will help understand the other factors related to Bitcoin price and also help one make future predictions in a better way than just using the historical price.

Content

The dataset has one csv file for each currency. Price history is available on a daily basis from April 28, 2013. This dataset has the historical price information of some of the top crypto currencies by market capitalization.

• Date : date of observation
• Open : Opening price on the given day
• High : Highest price on the given day
• Low : Lowest price on the given day
• Close : Closing price on the given day
• Volume : Volume of transactions on the given day
• Market Cap : Market capitalization in USD

Acknowledgements

This data is taken from coinmarketcap and it is free to use the data.

Cover Image : Photo by Thomas Malama on Unsplash

Inspiration

Some of the questions which could be inferred from this dataset are:

1. How did the historical prices / market capitalizations of various currencies change over time?
2. Predicting the future price of the currencies
3. Which currencies are more volatile and which ones are more stable?
4. How does the price fluctuations of currencies correlate with each other?
5. Seasonal trend in the price fluctuations

Cryptocurrency historical datasets from January 2012 (if available) to October 2021 were obtained and integrated from various sources and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including Yahoo Finance, Cryptodownload, CoinMarketCap, various Kaggle datasets, and multiple APIs. While these datasets used various formats of time (e.g., minutes, hours, days), in order to integrate the datasets days format was used for in this research study. The integrated cryptocurrency historical datasets for 80 cryptocurrencies including but not limited to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Cardano (ADA), Tether (USDT), Ripple (XRP), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), USD Coin (USDC), Dogecoin (DOGE), Tron (TRX), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), EOS (EOS), Cosmos (ATOM), Stellar (XLM), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Uniswap (UNI), Terra (LUNA), SHIBA INU (SHIB), and 60 more cryptocurrencies were uploaded in this online Mendeley data repository. Although the primary attribute of including the mentioned cryptocurrencies was the Market Capitalization, a subject matter expert i.e., a professional trader has also guided the initial selection of the cryptocurrencies by analyzing various indicators such as Relative Strength Index (RSI), Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD), MYC Signals, Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci Retracement, Stochastic Oscillator and Ichimoku Cloud. The primary features of this dataset that were used as the decision-making criteria of the CLUS-MCDA II approach are Timestamps, Open, High, Low, Closed, Volume (Currency), % Change (7 days and 24 hours), Market Cap and Weighted Price values. The available excel and CSV files in this data set are just part of the integrated data and other databases, datasets and API References that was used in this study are as follows: [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/ [2] https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/ [3] https://cryptodatadownload.com/ [4] https://kaggle.com/philmohun/cryptocurrency-financial-data [5] https://kaggle.com/deepshah16/meme-cryptocurrency-historical-data [6] https://kaggle.com/sudalairajkumar/cryptocurrencypricehistory [7] https://min-api.cryptocompare.com/data/price?fsym=BTC&tsyms=USD [8] https://min-api.cryptocompare.com/ [9] https://p.nomics.com/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-api [10] https://www.coinapi.io/ [11] https://www.coingecko.com/en/api [12] https://cryptowat.ch/ [13] https://www.alphavantage.co/

This dataset is part of the CLUS-MCDA (Cluster analysis for improving Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis) and CLUS-MCDAII Project: https://aimaghsoodi.github.io/CLUSMCDA-R-Package/ https://github.com/Aimaghsoodi/CLUS-MCDA-II https://github.com/azadkavian/CLUS-MCDA

This dataset appears to be a time series dataset containing financial market data, specifically related to a certain asset or cryptocurrency. The columns in the dataset represent various financial metrics and market attributes. Here's a brief description of each column:

Date (Start-End): This column likely represents the time period for which the data is recorded, with a start and end date for each entry.

Open: The opening price of the asset or cryptocurrency at the beginning of the time period.

High: The highest price reached during the time period.

Low: The lowest price reached during the time period.

Close: The closing price of the asset or cryptocurrency at the end of the time period.

Volume: The trading volume, which typically represents the total number of units of the asset traded during the time period.

Market Cap: The market capitalization, which is often the product of the closing price and the total supply of the asset.

This dataset can be used for various financial and statistical analyses, including studying price trends, volatility, and trading volume over time. It may be particularly useful for analyzing the performance of the asset or cryptocurrency over the given time frame and identifying patterns or insights for investment or trading strategies.

This dataset contains historical Bitcoin (BTC/USDT) price data from Binance exchange with the following specifications:

Timezone Information: - All timestamps are in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) - Open time format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.ffffff UTC - Close time format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.ffffff UTC

Daily Timeframe Specific: - Open time: Always shows 00:00:00.000000 UTC (start of day) - Close time: Always shows 23:59:59.999000 UTC (end of day)

Timeframes Available: - 15-minute intervals (15m) - 1-hour intervals (1h) - 4-hour intervals (4h) - 1-day intervals (1d)

Data Columns: - Open time: Opening timestamp in UTC - Open: Opening price - High: Highest price during period - Low: Lowest price during period - Close: Closing price - Volume: Trading volume - Close time: Closing timestamp in UTC - Quote asset volume: Volume in quote asset (USDT) - Number of trades: Number of trades during period - Taker buy base asset volume: Volume of taker buy orders - Taker buy quote asset volume: Volume of taker buy orders in quote asset - Ignore: Unused field

Data is automatically updated and maintained through automated scripts.

This scatter chart displays lowest price against closing price. The data is filtered where the crypto is Dogecoin and the date is the 19th of April 2025. The data is about cryptos per day.

Ethereum's price history suggests that that crypto was worth significantly less in 2022 than during late 2021, although nowhere near the lowest 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.’ 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 which 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 May 4, 2025, Ethereum was worth 1,808.59 U.S. dollars - significantly less than the 4,400 U.S. dollars by the end of 2021. Ethereum’s future and the DeFi industry Price 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 Ethereum NFTs or non-fungible tokens grew nearly ten-fold 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.

Snapshot img

Cryptocurrency Market Size 2025-2029

The cryptocurrency market size is forecast to increase by USD 39.75 billion, at a CAGR of 16.7% between 2024 and 2029.

The Cryptocurrency Market is segmented by distribution channel (Sales Personnel, Insurance Agencies), type (Life, Non-life), mode (Offline, Online), end-user (Corporate, Individual), and geography (North America: US, Canada; Europe: France, Germany, UK; APAC: Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea; Rest of World). This segmentation reflects the market's diversity, driven by increasing adoption of Online modes for Individual end-users, particularly in APAC regions like India and South Korea, growing demand for Non-life cryptocurrency products through Insurance Agencies, and Corporate engagement via Sales Personnel in North America and Europe, catering to varied financial and investment needs across global markets.
The market is experiencing significant growth, driven by increasing investment in digital assets and the acceptance of cryptocurrency by retailers. This trend signifies a shift in the financial landscape, as more individuals and businesses recognize the potential benefits of decentralized currencies. However, the market's volatility poses a considerable challenge. The unpredictable value fluctuations can create uncertainty for investors and businesses alike, necessitating careful strategic planning and risk management. Companies seeking to capitalize on this market's opportunities must stay informed of the latest trends and be prepared to navigate the inherent risks. E-commerce, luxury goods, insurance, and even cryptocurrency debit cards are increasingly accepting digital currencies as payment methods.
Adopting innovative technologies, such as blockchain and smart contracts, can help mitigate risks and provide a competitive edge. Additionally, collaborations and partnerships with established financial institutions and retailers can further solidify a company's position in the market. Overall, the market presents both opportunities and challenges, requiring strategic agility and a forward-thinking approach.

What will be the Size of the Cryptocurrency Market during the forecast period?

Explore in-depth regional segment analysis with market size data - historical 2019-2023 and forecasts 2025-2029 - in the full report.
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The market continues to evolve, with dynamic interplays between decentralized storage solutions, hardware wallets, and crypto wallets shaping the landscape. Merchant adoption is on the rise, driving up market capitalization and pushing the boundaries of cryptocurrency security. Proof-of-work (POW) and hashing algorithms underpin the foundations of this decentralized economy, while cryptocurrency derivatives and decentralized finance (DeFi) offer new avenues for portfolio diversification. Open-source software fuels the innovation, with smart contracts paving the way for automated transactions. Cryptocurrency trading is a constant activity, with options contracts, futures contracts, and other instruments adding complexity. The integration of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and yield farming further expands the market's reach.

Cryptocurrency's applications extend beyond digital assets, touching upon privacy-enhancing technologies, philanthropy, community development, and more. The integration of decentralized governance, consensus mechanisms, and decentralized identity adds layers of complexity and potential. Risk management is a critical component, with cryptocurrency education and security audits essential for investors. The emergence of privacy coins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized applications (dApps) adds to the market's diversity. The market is a dynamic, ever-evolving ecosystem, shaped by ongoing activities and emerging patterns. Quantum computing and regulatory developments pose new challenges, while the integration of cryptocurrency payments, cold storage, and trading volume continues to drive growth.

The future of this decentralized economy is bright, with continuous innovation and adaptation shaping its trajectory.

How is this Cryptocurrency Industry segmented?

The cryptocurrency industry research report provides comprehensive data (region-wise segment analysis), with forecasts and estimates in 'USD billion' for the period 2025-2029, as well as historical data from 2019-2023 for the following segments.

Type

  Bitcoin
  Ethereum
  Others
  Ripple
  Bitcoin Cash
  Cardano


Component

  Hardware
  Software


Process

  Mining
  Transaction
  Mining
  Transaction


End-Use

  Trading
  E-commerce and Retail
  Peer-to-Peer Payment
  Remittance
  Trading
  E-commerce and Retail
  Peer-to-Peer Payment
  Remittance


Geography

  North America

    US
    Canada


  Europe

    Germany
    Italy
    Switzerland
    The Netherlands
    UK


  APAC

    China
    Japan


  South America

    Br

Bitcoin's circulating supply has grown steadily since its inception in 2009, reaching over 19 million coins by early 2025. This gradual increase reflects the cryptocurrency's design, which put a limit of 21 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 2025, more than 90 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 discussion 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.

This scatter chart displays opening price against lowest price. The data is filtered where the crypto is Dogecoin and the date is the 17th of April 2025. The data is about cryptos per day.

It is estimated that the cumulative market cap of cryptocurrencies increased in early 2023 after the downfall in November 2022 due to FTX. That value declined in the summer of 2023, however, as international uncertainty grew over a potential recession. Bitcoin's market cap comprised the majority of the overall market capitalization. What is market cap? Market capitalization is a financial measure typically used for publicly traded firms, computed by multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares. However, cryptocurrency analysts calculate it as the price of the virtual currencies times the number of coins in the market. This gives cryptocurrency investors an idea of the overall market size, and watching the evolution of the measure tells how much money is flowing in or out of each cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency as an investment The price of Bitcoin has been erratic, and most other cryptocurrencies follow its larger price swings. This volatility attracts investors who hope to buy when the price is low and sell at its peak, turning a profit. However, this does little for price stability. As such, few firms accept payment in cryptocurrencies. As of June 25, 2025, the cumulative market cap of cryptocurrencies reached a value of ******.

This dataset contains information about the volume of Google searches for the term "bitcoin," the values of the Twitter happiness index and the Fear Index, the number of page views for the term "Bitcoin" on Wikipedia, and the online participation of the Bitcointalk.org online forum. Additionally, bitcoin prices and historical returns for the period July 2015 to June 2021 are included.

The market cap of the top 10 stablecoin initially multiplied over time, reaching a combined value of over *** billion USD in May 2025. Note this value does not include TerraUSD (UST), the algorithmic stablecoin tied to the LUNA crypto which declined severely in May 2022. Up to then, estimates reveal that the market cap had more than tripled within five months - likely following growing interest worldwide in cryptocurrencies, after sudden price spikes in a coin like Dogecoin (DOGE). Stability above all, or what does a stablecoin do? Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies - like the commonly known Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) - but their value is determined differently. Whilst the price of Bitcoin mainly follows supply - how many coins are being mined or are available to purchase - and demand - how many investors want to buy the coin - stablecoins are synthetically connected to the price of an altogether different asset. Tether's USDT, for instance, is connected to the price development of the U.S. dollar (USD): if the U.S. dollar falls in the FX market, so does the USDT. Compare this to the "regular" price history of a cryptocurrency like Ripple (XRP) and stablecoins reveal themselves to be a relatively less volatile digital currency to either use or invest in than their counterparts in the free market. A test ground for digital payments This stability of these particular cryptocurrencies is important for two areas in digital payments that do not prefer volatility. For instance, these coins are a popular choice within the world of Decentralized Finance or DeFi - an online financial market without the supervision of central bank that relies on cryptocurrencies for payments and loans. Because of that reliance, it is a market that can rapidly change in size due to price fluctuations or changing transaction fees of certain cryptocurrencies - something that is less likely to occur when using stablecoins. Additionally, stablecoins are considered the inspiration for so-called CBDC or Central Bank Digital Currencies - such as China's e-CNY currency or the "digital euro" that is being researched in the EU-27. In terms of how advanced countries worldwide are into researching their own cryptocurrency, China ranked third in 2020, behind Cambodia, and The Bahamas.