Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2024, as values exceeded over 73,000 USD in March 2024. That particular price hike was connected to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, whilst 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.' biggest crypto exchange fueled mass interest. The market was noticably different by the end of 2022, however, with Bitcoin prices reaching roughly 87,471.70 as of March 25, 2025 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 metrices available that allow for forecasting, if only because it is rumored that only few cryptocurrency holders own a large portion of available supply. These large holders - referred to as 'whales' - are said to make up of two percent of anonymous ownership accounts, whilst 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 already having a significant impact on this market.

By 2025, the Bitcoin market cap had grown to over 2,000 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 one 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 50 percent. Maximum supply and scarcity Bitcoin is unusual from other cryptocurrencies in that its maximum supply is getting closer. By 2025, well over 19 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.

Bitcoin dominance steadily declined in April 2024 to below 50 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.

Prices for USCBTC USD Coin Bitcoin including live quotes, historical charts and news. USCBTC USD Coin Bitcoin was last updated by Trading Economics this March 27 of 2025.

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 March 12, 2025, Ethereum was worth 1,908.98 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 in recent years, with other examples including smart contractor Uniswap, Maker (responsible for stablecoin DAI), money lender 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 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.

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.

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 made up 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.

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 143.82 U.S. dollars for SOL on March 25, 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 in order to avoid bankruptcy. The Solana protocol is similar to Ethereum in that can allow for nun-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.

Ripple - or XRP - prices surged in 2021, but went down significantly as 2022 progressed. As of March 26, 2025, one XRP token was worth 2.35 U.S. dollars. Ethereum's price, for example, kept on reaching new all-time highs, a feat not performed by XRP. Indeed, XRP's more 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 on 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 after 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.

Bitcoin's transaction volume was at its highest in December 2023, when the network processed over 724,000 coins on the same day. Bitcoin generally has a higher transaction activity than other cryptocurrencies, except Ethereum. This cryptocurrency is often processed more than one million times per day. Note that the transaction volume here refers to transactions registered within the Bitcoin blockchain. It should not be confused with Bitcoin's 24-hour trade volume, a metric associated with crypto exchanges. The more Bitcoin transactions, the more it is used in B2C payments? A Bitcoin transaction recorded in the blockchain can be any transaction, including B2C but also P2P. While it is possible to see in the blockchain which address sent Bitcoin to whom, details on who this person is and where they are from are often missing. Bitcoin was designed to go against monetary authorities and prides itself on being anonymous. An important argument against Bitcoin replacing cash or cards in payments is that the cryptocurrency was not allowed for such a task: Bitcoin ranks among the slowest cryptocurrencies in terms of transaction speed. Are cryptocurrencies taking over payments? Cryptocurrency payments are set to grow at a CAGR of nearly 17 percent between 2022 and 2029, although the market is relatively small. The forecast is according to a market estimate made in early 2023, based on various conditions and sources available at that time. Research across 40 countries during the same time suggested that the market share of cryptocurrency in e-commerce transactions was "less than one percent" in all surveyed countries, with predictions being this would not change in the future.

Dogecoin (DOGE) price per day from July 1, 2022 to March 26, 2025 (in U.S. cents)

Six months after its initial release, the value of cryptocurrency Polkadot was already six times higher than it was at the end of August 2020. Nicknamed 'the Ethereum Killer' by Bloomberg in December 2020, the altcoin is similar to Ethereum in that they are both open-source and are a decentralized web. Over the course of 2021, it increasingly attracted interest from crypto fund managers as they thought there were few developments in the Ethereum blockchain, and the cryptocurrency from Switzerland's Web3 Foundation was a suitable alternative. By 2022, the situation had changed: As of March 25, 2025, one DOT token was worth 4.64 U.S. dollars.

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. Also, like Ethereum, ADA has an open-source format, meaning anybody can develop this currency further. As of March 25, 2025, one ADA token was worth 0.75 U.S. dollars.

The Bitcoin confirmation time - the time it takes to mine a block of Bitcoin transactions - fluctuated by several minutes over the course of 2024. While not often used for purchases, investors have flocked towards Bitcoin and other virtual currencies for investment. Fluctuations in price could lead to changes in investor activity, which would have correlating changes in transaction times. Given Bitcoin’s security algorithm, which depends on a distributed ledger, an increase in the number of Bitcoins in circulation could also lead to longer transaction times.

Memecoin Shiba Inu saw its price grow by more than 300 percent within one and the same month, marking a trading fury reminiscent of Dogecoin in early 2021. Indeed, the SHIB coin ranked as one of the biggest crypto in the world based on 24h trading volume in October 2021 - with trading activity being almost as high as that of Ethereum. Originally starting out as a fun token based on the famous Japanese dog breed, the digital currency grabbed mainstream attention in 2021 probably due to its low barrier of entry: Even after its price spikes, Shiba Inu was one of the cheapest coins availalbe, especially when compared to the price of 99 other cryptocurrencies. Combine this with survey information that most consumers in the U.S. and the UK invest in crypto either for growth or fun, and Shiba Inu is probably seen by many as a relatively simple, "quick win" investment.

The price of the native coin from BNB Chain (formerly BSC) grew by 50 percent in late 2021 but was much lower in 2022. In March 25, 2025, for example, a single BNB coin was worth more than 629.94 U.S. dollars - a value that very different to the all-time high of 600 U.S. dollars in November 2021. Regardless, Binance Coin ranked in the top 10 most expensive cryptocurrencies in 2022. Noticeable is that the price increase of BNB in November 2021 coincides with a similar price change for Ethereum (ETH) - a cryptocurrency where BNB initially originated in 2017 before coming on its own years later.BNB's history: From reward token in 2017 to an ecosystem after 2019As the name suggests, Binance Coin or BNB originally started as an extension of the Binance.com trading platform - the most used cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It initially functioned on the Ethereum blockchain network as an ERC-20 token, offering incentives to owners like reduced trading fees, affiliate rewards, or a lottery ticket system ('Launchpad') that let users invest in new, Binance-selected crypto projects. In 2019, however, BNB moved away from the Ethereum network and migrated to Binance's self-developed blockchain: Binance Smart Chain or BSC (called BNB Chain since February 2022). Here, BNB started to support a chain that initially did not focus on hosting decentralized apps but focused on high transaction speed and being able to handle large amounts of traffic.DeFi and GameFi: the main segments for BNBBSC, however, made significant strides in 2021 partly due to traffic overload and high gas prices on Ethereum as well as the growing interest in both Decentralized Finance (DeFI) and NFTs. Much like Cardano, Solana, and Terra, Binance Smart Chain consequently became a valid alternative to Ethereum: The total value locked (TVL) of BNBs blockchain within DeFi, for example, ranked only behind that of Terra and Ethereum in early 2022. Another area where Binance's blockchain and token play a significant role is that of GameFi - or 'play-to-earn' blockchain games that are powered by cryptocurrencies. Some of the more well-known and most popular NFT games like Alien Worlds and Axie Infinity run on the blockchain behind BNB.

The share of stablecoins within the overall crypto market was below that of Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC). This would mark a significant rise of the digital asset, as earlier calculations from December 2021 indicated a stablecoin market share of seven percent. What may play a part in these figures is that "regular" cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum saw a significant decline in price between May and June 2022 - leading to their market cap to decline as well. Fiat-backed stablecoins like Tether, USD Coin and Binance USD, on the other hand, were not as impacted. That said, the crash of algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and its token Terra (LUNA) led to much uncertainty on whether non-fiat backed stablecoins could work.

At the end of December 2024, the Ethereum cryptocurrency had been processed well to 39 million times on-chain that month. This was about three times that of the more commonly known rival Bitcoin, which saw a total of 12.7 million transactions that month. Other leading cryptocurrencies also saw significantly less transaction activity. What kind of transactions were these? Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies which owe their credibility to their technology rather than a central bank. Many of the transactions in this statistic involve cryptocurrency exchanges which exchange these coins for other currencies, including traditional currencies such as U.S. dollars or euros. In selected countries, Bitcoin ATMs also dispense the local currency in exchange for Bitcoin. However, few retailers accept that or any other cryptocurrency on a large scale. Cryptocurrency as an investment Many cryptocurrency enthusiasts point to the high market capitalization of their favorite cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the currency price is an important factor. The price volatility of Bitcoin and others attracts investors, hoping to buy low and sell high.

The Litecoin cryptocurrency peaked in both 2017 and 2020 - reaching prices worth around 250 dollars - but did not reach this by 2022. As of March 21, 2025, one Litcoin token was worth 90.93 U.S. dollars. Litecoin's price was relatively volatile in recent years, revealing high price swings between months.What is a cryptocurrency?Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that do not have a centralized regulating authority. The first of these, Bitcoin, introduced a technology called blockchain, in which a distributed ledger records every transaction on every bitcoin in circulation to prevent fraud. Litecoin also uses this technology. To accommodate the demands of constant ledger updates, users sell computational power in exchange for an amount of Litecoin, a process known as mining.More about LitecoinCryptocurrencies are still emerging technology, and few are using them for transactions. As such, most users are speculators who look at the value of all coins in circulation as the market capitalization rather than money supply. Still, the average number of Litecoin transactions ranges in the tens of thousands, meaning that the cryptocurrency has a substantial financial footprint.

In May 2022, the value of a single LUNA (version 1.0) declined by over 50 percent per day, as prices fell significantly from one day to the next. This is a significant difference from earlier in the year, when the price of the Luna token within the Terra (Classic) network grew by roughly 100 percent between January and March 2022. This popularity was reflected in a ranking covering the world's most traded cryptocurrencies - where the relatively young crypto first showed in the top 10. The popularity of Terra and its cryptocurrencies LUNA and UST (TerraUSD) - from May 2022 referred to as Terra Classic - comes from its role in crypto lending and the interest rates promised by lending platform Anchor Protocol, a platform built off the Terra network.