Despite facing many challenges in 2021, Bitcoin is still going strong, with a market cap of nearly $650b at the moment.
Crypto enthusiasts remember how much Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies grew during 2020, despite several significant price fluctuations during the year. 2021 has so far been eerily similar for crypto, with major dips followed by large growth spikes and vice versa. For example, at one point in early May, Bitcoin’s market cap was over $1 trillion, doubling its value at the beginning of the year.
Cardano overcame Dogecoin with a market cap of $42.8 billion.
https://coinmarketcap.com
Ether has also been a popular investment among crypto enthusiasts worldwide. Its market cap grew by 225% during the first half of this year, and it’s now sitting at nearly $240 billion. The cryptocurrency is very popular within trading and mining communities, seeing 10 million units in daily trading volume. Miners that aren’t ready to dedicate the money, space, and time to mining for Bitcoin with ASICs have found Ether to be the ideal crypto alternative. All that is required is standard PC equipment, including a motherboard, a CPU, and at least one powerful graphics card.
Both Bitcoin and Ether, along with other cryptocurrencies, have seen drastic dips this year. Some events nearly halved the value of the cryptos, causing panic selling. It all started in May when, almost at the same time, the Chinese government banned the use of cryptocurrencies, and Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. announced that it would stop accepting crypto payments. The final blow to the market happened in early June. Following a ransomware attack by the hacker group Darkside, the US Department of Justice seized around $2.3 million in crypto assets.
Still, cryptocurrencies are going strong and have successfully recovered from every blow in 2020 and 2021. Lots of them are even becoming accepted as payment methods, especially at UK betting sites, where these transactions are often faster and more secure than wire transfers.
