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The number of cryptocurrencies had been constantly growing for almost a decade before hitting an all-time high of over 10,000 in February. However, the recent crypto price crash, which brought a $2 trillion wipeout and wounded crypto companies across the globe, also caused the biggest drop in the number of cryptos so far.
According to data presented by TradingPlatforms.com, the total number of cryptocurrencies dropped by 1,100 in the last nine months, the biggest decrease in the market`s history.
Total Number of Cryptos Up by 22% YoY, Despite the Latest Drop
The number of digital coins circulating in the crypto space soared over the years, and Statista and Investing.com data show just how big that growth was.
Between 2013 and 2020, the total number of cryptos grew 75 times, jumping from around 60 to over 4,500. Statistics show this number more than doubled in the last two years.
In the first half of 2021, 1,500 new digital coins entered the market, with the total number rising to 6,000 in July. However, in the last months of 2021, the market was adding about 1,000 new cryptocurrencies per month, causing the total number of cryptos to reach 9,900 in January this year.
In February, almost 10,400 cryptocurrencies were circulating in the crypto space, the highest number to date. Still, it has been downhill since then, with the number of cryptos falling to 9,231 as of last week.
Although this represents a 1,100 drop from an all-time high in February, the number of cryptos increased 22% year-over-year. In November 2021, there were over 7,500 available cryptocurrencies, 1,600 less than today.
Total Market Value Plunged by 52% Since February
Besides the most significant cryptocurrency drop in its history, the crypto market has also seen a huge market cap decrease in the past nine months.
According to CoinMarketCap data, the global crypto market cap plunged by 52% since February, falling from $1.76trn to $842.8 as of last week, and the top five cryptos make 70% of that value.
The most expensive digital currency globally, Bitcoin accounts for 36% of the global crypto market cap, with the combined value of all BTC coins standing at $311.7bn last week, 57% less than in February. Ethereum`s market cap plunged by 55% to $143.2bn in this period, making around 16% of the total market cap.
Tether, USD Coin, and BNB, the next three biggest cryptos, account for another 18.5% of the global crypto market cap.
Top 5 Crypto Billionaires Collectively Lost Over $112B This Year
Crypto billionaires have seen their personal wealth plummet this year, as the entire market suffered a$2trn wipeout. The crash of the world`s second-largest crypto exchange, FTX, came as another shock. While the FTX wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried lost billions of dollars in a matter of days, the sudden collapse of his crypto exchange also hit the fortunes of other crypto titans.
According to data presented by CryptoPresales.com, the five wealthiest people in the crypto space have lost a shocking $112.7bn this year.
Changpeng Zhao Lost $82B, More than Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates Combined
The fortunes of the world's crypto billionaires have plummeted this year, but the Chinese crypto king, Changpeng Zhao, has undoubtedly seen the biggest loss of them all. The Binance CEO lost tens of billions of dollars as crypto prices cooled, but luckily, he doesn't really care much about money, as he explained in one interview.
Zhao is still the wealthiest figure in the crypto world, with a current net worth of $14.6bn, but the sum was $96.5bn a year ago before the crypto market began spiraling.
According to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data, the Chinese crypto king lost almost $82bn this year, more than Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates combined. The wealth of the chairman and CEO of Meta plummeted by $56bn this year, while Gates lost around $23bn.
FTX Co-Founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang Lost Nearly $25B
After the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried found himself out of the Forbes Billionaires club. Before his company's cash crunch, the FTX CEO was worth an estimated $24bn, with his stakes in FTX and a crypto trading house Alameda as his most valuable assets. Today, his net worth stands below $1bn, showing a staggering $23bn loss in just three weeks.
FTX co-founder Gary Wang, the youngest person to appear on the Forbes top 400 rich list in 2022, lost $1.7bn. According to Forbes, his net worth stands at $4.2bn as of this week, down from a peak of $5.9bn.
Statistics show the chief executive of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, suffered the third-largest loss among the top five crypto titans, with his wealth melting by $4.7bn in 2022. Armstrong is currently valued at $1.9bn, down from $6.6bn earlier this year.
The fifth wealthiest person in the crypto space, Chris Larsen, has seen his wealth shrink by $1.3bn in 2022. Statistics show the co-founder of Ripple was valued at $4.3bn a few months ago. Now, his wealth stands at $3bn.
