PANews reported on January 5 that according to the Chinese Financial Forty Forum WeChat public account, Zhong Yi of the Chinese Financial Forty Research Institute wrote (Cryptocurrencies have 'changed significantly'), indicating that cryptocurrencies have now evolved into at least three types with different characteristics. Based on design mechanisms and functions, private cryptocurrencies can mainly be divided into three categories: Store of Value Cryptocurrencies, Utility Tokens, and Stablecoins.
Category I: Store of Value Cryptocurrencies, typical representatives include Bitcoin, Litecoin (LTC), etc. Although the initial design goal of these cryptocurrencies was to achieve peer-to-peer electronic payments, they have increasingly taken on the function of digital value storage.
Category II: Utility Tokens, typical representatives include Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), etc. Ethereum is the first blockchain platform to support smart contracts, allowing developers to create and deploy decentralized applications (DApps) and digital assets on its network. Utility tokens can be roughly divided into three categories: first, Infrastructure Tokens; second, Service Tokens; third, Finance Tokens.
Category III: Stablecoins, typical representatives include USDT, USDC, etc. They can mainly be divided into four categories: first, stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies; second, stablecoins pegged to commodities; third, stablecoins backed by cryptocurrencies; fourth, algorithmic stablecoins.
As of December 28, 2024, the CoinGecko website has recorded 16,022 cryptocurrencies across 1,200 cryptocurrency exchanges globally, with a total market capitalization of approximately $3.43 trillion and a trading volume of around $165.3 billion in the past 24 hours. In relative terms, this market capitalization is equivalent to 5% of the total market capitalization of the US stock market and 35% of the Chinese stock market. In early 2014, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies was only $10.6 billion, marking over a 300-fold growth in the cryptocurrency market over the past decade.
