Crypto market cap, volume, and NASDAQ- Making sense of ‘safe haven’ concept

Historically, decentralization seemed to be the motive behind people adopting cryptocurrencies. However, the drastically-changing scenario in the traditional market is pushing people to view crypto tokens as serious long-term investments.

Some of the largest U.S. banks and security firms in the traditional market are now considering the adoption of cryptocurrencies.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Inflation and rising interest rates have damped expectations for returns on stocks and bonds, making cryptocurrencies more attractive.” However, there is still a lot of skepticism around the same especially given the ongoing bear cycle in the cryptocurrency arena.

What’s that ‘on-going Bear cycle’

As per data from CoinMarketCap, the volume of the cryptocurrency market as of 3 May 2021 stood at $2.2 trillion, which is considerably higher than the total volume of the cryptocurrency market as of 3 May 2022.

At press time, the cryptocurrency market stood at $1.7 trillion with major tokens trading lower as compared to the last seven days.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Contrary to the ongoing situation of the market, Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital mentioned in a recent podcast, “I think we’re done with the bear market. The next six to 12 months are likely to see massive rallies investors flee stocks, bonds, and real estate for blockchain.”

Where does NASDAQ stand at the moment?

The bear cycle is not only applicable to the crypto market since the traditional market is at its worst in the current timeframe. As of April 2022, the NASDAQ index experienced one of the most expansive sell-offs with more than $5 trillion that has been shed by the index.

Major tech giants, such as Apple, Amazon, and Netflix witnessed a fall of 14%, 3.7%, and 30% respectively. As of 29 April 2022, the market reached its lowest as depicted in the chart given below. However, as of 2 May 2022, the market did seem to show some improvement.

Source: Nasdaq.com

Inflation in the U.S. soared up to 8.4%, reaching the highest inflation rate witnessed in the last 41 years in March 2022. This coupled with the brutal market movements in April may lead to a volatile May.

However, the outcome of the upcoming Federal meeting is expected to raise interest rates along with plans to announce the process of quantitative tightening.

Then why crypto?

Despite the cryptocurrency market not performing as well as it did in the past, the overall growth of the market has been extremely noteworthy. The chart given below depicts the growth of the cryptocurrency market over the last 10 years.

Source: Statista

Notably, major players in the market, including Fidelity Investments, BNY Melon, and Cowen Inc. have started making arrangements for storing and trading cryptocurrencies despite the uncertain regulatory landscape around the same.

It can be speculated that cryptocurrency may be a safe haven for investors, in the long run. Given the current situation of the traditional market, the move to cryptocurrency, although slow and filled with roadblocks, is inevitable.