Nipping at Apple’s Heels: Crypto Market Cap Hits $700 Billion

The crypto market managed to surpass the $700 billion value mark, meaning that if it were a company, it would be second only to Apple. According to Forbes, the tech giant maintains a capitalization of around $752 billion.

The cryptocurrencies market could not consolidate above its new record level. At the time of writing, its total capitalization is $695.9 billion, as displayed by Coinmarketcap.com. However, the uptrend is stable, and the market will probably hold above the $700 billion threshold starting within days. There have been predictions that the total value could hit $1 trillion this year.

Interestingly, it is not Bitcoin that is pushing the crypto market at this time - the overall bullish crypto trend is being fueled by the altcoins. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is fluctuating around $15,000, its Wednesday gain amounting to over 9%. Bitcoin’s dominance has shrunk significantly, and its share of the total market currently stands at 36.58%, which is marginally above the record low.

The altcoins outside the top 10 account for over 20.8% of the total market cap, which is more than double compared to the dominance indicator on December 8.

In the top 10, the best performer since the beginning of December has been Ripple, which started the month at around $0.26 and has shot up to its current record level at $2.80. Ripple’s market cap reached $105.5 billion, making it the second largest cryptocurrency, ahead of Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash with $85 billion and $46 billion, respectively.
Cardano delivered the biggest surprise in December – the altcoin gained around 650% for the month and has consolidated its position in the top 10 with a market cap of almost $25 billion.

Outside the top 10, major contributors were Dash, Monero, Neo, EOS, Tron, Steem, and Status. Tron has gained an impressive 3,900% in the last 30 days, becoming the 14th largest cryptocurrency. Status rose 700% over the same period, making the top 30 list.

On December 7, the cryptocurrency market hit $400 billion for the first time and has since gained 75%. Another landmark was recorded on December 17, when the market topped $600 billion in total value.