If you had asked me half a year ago if the total crypto market cap was going to be 80 billion and quickly pushing 100 billion by the end of the year, I probably would have taken a bet against you. Thankfully im not a betting man because in a short few months the entire cryptocoin community has exploded in value and not just in mainstream coins like bitcoin or ethereum, but with growing competitors like steem.
Sure most of the money in the coin market right now is most likely speculation, but that doesn’t devalue the work that is going on and the progress that is being made. Even this week the amount of non bitcoin improvements and deals with big companies at consensus 2017 was amazing. I still think bitcoin is a good store of value, but we are definitely seeing better returns with other coins. There is more risk investing in smaller market cap coins definitely, but there are good projects that warrant a small investment in my opinion.
More and more these days it seems that cryptocurrency is breaching into the mainstream media, news ect and if that trend continues there is a real potential that we hit a trillion dollar market cap between all coins by 2020. That is still 3 years away and A LOT of work needs to be done in order to make many coins user friendly, but there is definitely a potential that it could happen. Especially if mainstream products like a bitcoin etf or other cryptocurrency funds end up being traded on mainstream exchanges, big funds and home investors could dip their feet in.
Crypto is still extremely risky and I would never bet the house or bet more than I could afford to lose, but I definitely think in the long run, even if not in 3 years, that trillion dollar marketcap will be breached. Also take in mind that this is between all cryptocurrencies, so even if you invest a large amount of money into a few, there is a chance that the ones you invest in won’t be here in 5 years to bring in the rewards. I personally think that keeping your majority of money in larger market cap coins with legitimate use cases is probably the best way to go.
I have also heard that a successful strategy that some people use is investing small amounts in many small cap currencies and just holding it. Sometimes you get lucky and strike gold which will make all your money back and more. I personally don’t use this strategy, but I hear good things from people who do. Even Fluffypony, the main monero developer, says that he used to do that and it paid off heavily over time. I might end up using that strategy in the near future as well.
Ultimately I think the entire space is growing and if the current growth continues we have a very good chance at seeing a trillion dollar market cap. Even governments who overall try to ignore the space will be forced to comment or act on it eventually because it is just so big. They cant ignore us forever. To all the new investors in the space as well, it is telling that most of the coins flying up in value are new ones, because many feel it is too late with bitcoin to be an early adopter. I see more of this happening as well. Hopefully by 2020 we can see these predictions become realities!