Cryptocurrencies market cap surpassed $500 billion

Cryptocurrencies market cap surpassed US$500 billion following the launch of bitcoin futures trading at CBOE where bitcoin dominates. The bitcoin market cap of more than US$300 billion at US$18,000 also surpassed the US$291 billion International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) valuation.

The combined market share of cryptocurrencies has surpassed the US$500 mark and the underlying blockchain technology is increasingly being adopted by large corporations. Analysts predict the market cap will soon be on the US$1 trillion mark by early 2018.

The value of bitcoin as a single cryptocurrency has grown tremendously in 2017 that surpasses almost all world currencies, stocks, and commodities. A US$300 billion market valuation is also enough to buy Paypal, IBM, Disney, General Electric and McDonalds.

This future currency is decentralized and not under the control of the local central bank so the potential market share of the cryptocurrencies is equivalent to total GDP worldwide. Cryptocurrencies have become 'people's money' and this technology diverts wealth to individuals in new ways.