The Next Wave of Crypto Asset Investing
By PrimeAlpha
May 1, 2020
Digital Assets
May 1, 2020
A Nascent Asset Class with Youthful Characteristics
What is the Investment Landscape for Crypto Assets?
The history of tradeable crypto assets dates back to October 2008 when a computer scientist, or group of scientists, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a whitepaper describing a peer-to-peer electronic cash system called Bitcoin (BTC). A couple of months after the whitepaper, Bitcoin (BTC) was formally launched on January 3, 2009. Some hailed the digital currency as potentially foundational to a more decentralized and robust global financial system. Others simply saw a poor substitute for fiat currencies and precious metals.
Regardless of your viewpoint, the facts are that over the last 12 years BTC’s market capitalization has grown from zero to about $125B as of mid-April 2020 and the number of different crypto-assets is now in the thousands. BTC remains by far the biggest, though, making up about 64% of the $196B asset class. The next biggest coin, Ethereum (ETH), accounts for 9% and no other currency has more than a 5% share.
