The growing adoption of Bitcoin by large institutions is also a factor that affects the expansion of the crypto market.
The rise in the value of Bitcoin and other altcoins has pushed nine new crypto billionaires to enter the Forbes list. The new crypto billionaires joined the four that made it to the list in 2020. In total, 12 crypto billionaires are now on the 2021 Forbes World’s Billionaires list.
Nine Crypto Billionaires Enter Forbes 2021 Billionaire List
The new crypto billionaires on the 2021 Forbes list include Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The Winklevoss brothers’ net worth is $3 billion each. Cameron and Tyler have launched their crypto exchange Gemini and also acquired digital art marketplace Nifty Gateway. Michael Saylor, the MicroStrategy CEO, is also one of the new names on the Forbes list. Saylor’s net worth is $2.3 billion. Other new crypto billionaires on the list are Matthew Roszak, Tim Draper, Fred Ehrsam, Barry Silbert, Jed McCaleb, and 29-year old crypto wealthiest billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.
With the addition of nine crypto billionaires on the Forbes list, this shows that the crypto space has evolved over the year. In March 2020, the US economy plunged as a result of the unprecedented global health crisis. The decline raised worries among investors who neglected stocks and other risky assets for cash and treasuries. During the same period, the price of Bitcoin dropped about 50% in just a day. Other cryptocurrencies also recorded significant losses following Bitcoin’s price fall.
Now, cryptocurrencies have rebounded from the losses. Bitcoin has pulled in gains in the last twelve months, reaching new highs. Bitcoin has increased more than 100% since the year began. Also, the leading digital coin reached its all-time high of nearly $62,000 in March. Bitcoin is currently trading at $57,013, down 1.56% in the last 24 hours. Data provided by CoinMarketCap shows that BTC has a market value of over $1 trillion and gained 1.55% to more than $71 billion in its 24-hour trading volume.
Increase in Crypto Value Pushes Total Crypto Market to $2 Trillion
Similarly, other cryptocurrencies have spiked over the past year. The constant increase in cryptocurrencies has pushed the total crypto market to cross over $2 trillion on the 5th of April. The milestone for the crypto market came about three months after it reached $1 trillion market value.
The growing adoption of Bitcoin by large institutions is also a factor that affects the expansion of the crypto market. Nasdaq-listed company MicroStrategy has been purchasing large amounts of Bitcoin since August last year. The company now owns more than 90,000 Bitcoins. Similarly, electric vehicle company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) recently invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin as part of the company’s updated investment policy. In addition, payments firm Square Inc (NYSE: SQ) has added to its Bitcoin acquisition after the initial $5 million investment in October 2020.