How big is the cryptocurrency market?

The crypto market has grown tremendously in 2021, with the global market cap surpassing $2 trillion for the first time.

To assess the “enormity” of the industry’s overall capitalization, NGRAVE, a cryptocurrency security services provider, did so to compare market with the value of other industries.

Compared to precious metals, real estate and stocks

Gold currently has a market cap of $11.4 trillion, which is 5 times the size of the crypto market and 13 times the size of Bitcoin, also known as “digital gold”.

NGRAVE said $10 billion pulled from gold funds in 2021 as BTC establishes new ATH amid rampant money printing. The company also notes competition between the two markets as Bitcoin evolves into a “safe haven” asset class.

However, when compared to the size of the global silver market, the crypto market cap is almost double at $1.28 trillion.

Cryptocap vs Precious Metals Market | Source: NGRAV

Meanwhile, humanity’s main store of wealth, the world’s real estate market, is said to be worth nearly four times global GDP, reaching about $340 trillion, at least 160 times the size of the cryptocurrency market cap.

Although viewed as an asset that rivals the $122 trillion global stock market, the crypto market cap is still very low in comparison. However, the crypto market is comparable to the EU stock market at $14 trillion or even the US stock market which is valued at $50 trillion.

Cryptocap vs Stock Market | Source: NGRAV

Compared to GDP, government debt and student debt

Compared to gross domestic product (the value of all goods and services produced in a country), the crypto market would make the top 10, stretching between France ($2.63 trillion) and France and Italy ($1.889 trillion). .

The leading countries include Japan ($5.058 trillion), China ($14.723 trillion), and the United States ($20.894 trillion). Meanwhile, Bitcoin alone makes the top 20.

Cryptocurrency Capitalization vs. GDP | Source: NGRAV

The crypto market can hardly be compared to the global government debt, which is at a record high of $226 trillion. However, when compared to government debt, the crypto market cap of $2.97 trillion lags just behind the UK.

The market can also keep up with the US budget deficit for 2021 (at $2.77 trillion) and the US student debt burden ($1.7 trillion).

Cryptocurrency Capitalization vs. Sovereign Debt and Student Debt | Source: NGRAV

Compared to global industries and leading stocks

NGRAVE has estimated the total value of the crypto industry at $2.35-2.9 trillion, including many companies not directly involved in cryptocurrency issuance, such as hardware wallets, marketing and media companies, mining companies, blockchain startups , payment networks, crypto-focused venture capital funds, etc.

Compared to other global industries (cryptocurrency made the top 10 once in 2020), it has surpassed the telecom industry ($1.74 trillion).

Although the crypto industry has almost overtaken the automotive manufacturing sector ($3 trillion), it still lags behind the oil and gas exploration and production ($4.6 trillion) and food ($5 trillion) markets.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency capitalization with a market value of $22.5 trillion is still far from the global financial services industry.

Cryptocurrency Cap vs. Global Industries | Source: NGRAV

Finally, the crypto market cap ranks in the top three when compared to the best-performing stocks in the world, including tech giants.

The most valuable public company in the world is Apple ($2.98 trillion), followed by Microsoft ($2.51 trillion), while Alphabet ranks third with a market cap of more than $2 trillion.

However, NGRAVE has shown that Bitcoin is reaching a $1 trillion market cap much faster than these giants. Notably, it took Bitcoin just 12 years, half the time it took Amazon to reach this milestone.