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I think I simply saw outdated information, but I was curious whether or not the "cryptocurrency market" as in the total value of all cryptocurrencies on the market is equal to the sum of all their market caps.
So if bitcoin and ethereum were the only cryptocurrencies to exist, the former having a market cap of 816 billion and the ladder having a cap of 392 billion, the total crypto market would be 816+392 = 1208 billion, right?
A different view may be helpful, to avoid confusion with “market caps”: There’s a lottery that has given out 10 million lottery tickets. They have no money, but they decided that every ticket is worth $50,000. How do you get your $50,000? By waiting for someone to offer $50,000 for a ticket, then you can sell them your ticket. And since you managed to sell your ticket, a ticket is declared worth $50,001.
So the “market caps” of that lottery was $500bn, but with a single sale it has grown to $500bn + $10 million. What is the total value of the lotteries assets? A big fat ZERO. Now in the cryptocurrency “market” they have bigger and smaller lotteries.
