According to Zhitong Finance APP, the cumulative market cap of the global crypto market, including bitcoin, ethereum, and solana, has surpassed the epic threshold of 3 trillion USD, and during the early trading session today, it has reached the historic total market cap of 3.2 trillion USD. The election of Donald Trump as president of the usa, returning to the White House after four years, has prompted crypto enthusiasts to collectively bet that the new us government led by Trump will reveal a more friendly and relaxed regulatory expectation, which may bring new prosperity to this risk asset category.

According to statistics from the crypto data analysis and aggregation platform CoinGecko, earlier during the Asian trading session on November 14, the overall market cap of the crypto market had reached a historic peak of 3.2 trillion USD. Since Trump's victory, the bullish frenzy in the crypto market has been continuous; on Wednesday, the largest market cap cryptocurrency, bitcoin, broke through the significant level of 0.09 million USD, and on Thursday, it continued to rise, once reaching 93,480 USD, setting a new record.

By comparing the already reached total market cap of 3.2 trillion USD, the market cap of the crypto market has surpassed that of one of the seven major technology giants in the usa, microsoft (MSFT.US). As of Wednesday's closing of the us stock market, the latest market cap indicates that microsoft's total market cap is approximately 0.316 billion USD. The 3.2 trillion USD total market cap ranks just behind the two 'super giants', nvidia (NVDA.US) and apple (AAPL.US), on the global stock leaderboard, meaning that if the crypto market is regarded as a stock, its market cap is second only to nvidia and apple, far ahead of other top global listed companies like amazon, google, Meta, and Saudi Aramco.

Some market participants even shouted that the investment influence of bitcoin and other cryptos around the world is on par with 'ai', the hottest investment theme, after all, the market cap of the crypto market surpassing microsoft—a global leader in the ai field. With its major shareholder status in OpenAI, microsoft launched the Azure OpenAI Studio cloud computing service based on ChatGPT's core technology last year, which is equivalent to a new upgraded version of Azure AI, and fully integrated the proud GPT series large models into flagship software products like Office, achieving growth in both performance and stock price, and microsoft has long held the title of the 'company with the highest market cap in the world'.

The scale of this crypto frenzy party even exceeds those exciting days in 2021, when large-scale stimulus measures during the pandemic sparked massive speculative investments worldwide. This crypto craze also marks a remarkable recovery from the stagnation of crypto prices and trading volumes just a few months ago.

'Can the wild bitcoin continue to surge?'

Bitcoin continues to dominate the crypto market, with the milestone market cap of 3.2 trillion USD being significant enough to be recorded in financial market history, coinciding with bitcoin's trading price skyrocketing to a record 93,480 USD. Bitcoin's market cap currently hovers around 1.8 trillion USD, long being the largest cryptocurrency.

Last Thursday, Wall Street investment firm Ned Davis Research upgraded bitcoin to a "long-only trade" and believes that bitcoin is expected to soar to over 0.12 million dollars by next spring. The Ned Davis Research strategist team stated: "Due to optimistic sentiment about Trump's victory, cryptos are surging, and we believe that there is almost no resistance to the rising path of bitcoin prices at least before Trump takes office."

Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered Bank, believes that after Trump wins the U.S. presidential election, the price of bitcoin will reach 0.125 million dollars by the end of this year and could reach 0.2 million dollars by the end of 2025. Jan Van Eck, CEO of leading asset management firm VanEck, expects bitcoin prices could eventually reach 0.3 million dollars.

"Generally, this market trend is that bitcoin will break through first, followed closely by other cryptos," said Matthew Dibb, Chief Investment Officer at cryptocurrency asset management firm Astronaut Capital. "Therefore, capital will gradually rotate... and then we can expect a significant increase in total market cap."

Trump's announcement of winning the U.S. presidency, along with several pro-crypto lawmakers entering Congress, has clearly eliminated a significant degree of uncertainty surrounding the anticipated regulation of cryptos in the USA, triggering a wave of excitement.

During his campaign, Trump fully embraced digital assets and expressed his intent to turn the USA into the "crypto capital" and a "bitcoin superpower." Cryptos like bitcoin, ethereum, and solana have also become the core beneficiaries of the so-called "Trump trade."

In terms of trading prices, the price of bitcoin has doubled this year, rising about 30% since the U.S. election on November 5, reaching 0.09 million dollars. Other smaller cryptos like ethereum have also surged significantly since the election vote, with ethereum rising approximately 33% to 3220 dollars. The "meme crypto" dogecoin, an alternative and highly volatile cryptocurrency promoted by Musk, who holds multiple titles including the world's richest person and CEO of Tesla, has surged by 140%.

Market participants indicated that cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (like bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. stock market) have been heavily purchased by investors, which may suggest that Wall Street financial institutions are making significant buy-ins, while financial institutions typically prefer to avoid directly holding cryptos, which are riskier volatile assets.

"Bitcoin enthusiasts are known globally for their bold predictions, but reaching 0.1 million dollars by the end of the year seems feasible," said Carl Szantyr, founder and managing partner at Blockstone Capital.

Familiarity (DEJA VU)

This explosive rise is the latest chapter in the story of bitcoin's "rollercoaster price fluctuations." For enthusiasts in the crypto space who have witnessed the "crazy bull market" of cryptocurrencies, the scene of bitcoin breaking the $0.09 million mark and reaching a historical high feels familiar, especially considering the wild levels experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and the bitcoin halving bull market that have shocked them multiple times. Last year, in the chapter of the "crypto winter" story after the collapse of the cryptocurrency empire FTX and other crypto projects, bitcoin's price fell below $0.02 million.

Indeed, compared to traditional financial asset classes like stocks, bonds, and gold, the actual market value of cryptocurrencies appears insignificant. At current prices, the 0.209 million tons of gold cumulatively mined throughout history, as reported by the World Gold Council, is valued at nearly $19 trillion.

The total market cap of all companies in the s&p 500 index is an astonishing $50.6 trillion. However, with the cryptocurrency market cap now reaching $3.2 trillion, it has surpassed the total market cap of usa technology giant microsoft, ranking just behind two major usa technology "super giants" — namely nvidia and apple in the global equity market.

Some overlooked corners of the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem are not showing signs of recovery, while others are displaying a certain degree of caution. According to data from NonFungible.com, which tracks ethereum and Ronin blockchains, the average sales price of NFTs has remained around $2,000 since May, and although it has recently followed the rise of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, it has only increased to around $2,700.

In Singapore, DBS Bank, which operates a digital asset exchange, stated that although trading volume has surged, executing more than one-third of last year's total trading volume in the first ten days of November, investors have yet to venture into the more niche products of the crypto market.

"We have not seen clients transfer assets to more diverse platforms or decentralized exchanges," said David Hui, Chief Business Officer of DBS Digital Exchange.

Nevertheless, industry insiders generally state that the renewed attention will bring new momentum to the crypto ecosystem.

People are becoming more interested in decentralized trading in defi and other topics related to blockchain, and are increasingly willing to learn about them, said Danny Chong, co-founder of the decentralized asset tracking platform Tranchess.

If the overall market cap of cryptos continues to grow for a longer period, it may attract investors to develop a stronger interest in future and existing crypto themes, he said. "Including the tokenization of real-world assets and blockchain-based innovative payment services."