Zhong Yi, a researcher at China Finance 40, said that cryptocurrencies are no longer what they used to be, with a market value equivalent to 35% of the Chinese stock market.

PANews reported on January 5 that according to the official account of the China Finance 40 Forum, Zhong Yi from the China Finance 40 Research Institute wrote an article titled "Cryptocurrency is no longer what it used to be", in which he pointed out that the development of cryptocurrency has spawned at least three types with different characteristics. Based on the design mechanism and function, private cryptocurrencies can be mainly divided into three categories: Store of Value Cryptocurrencies, Utility Tokens, and Stablecoins.

Category I: Value-storing cryptocurrencies, typically represented by Bitcoin, Litecoin (LTC), etc. Although this type of cryptocurrency was originally designed to achieve peer-to-peer electronic payments, it has since developed into a digital value storage function.

Category II: Utility tokens, typical representatives are Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), etc. Ethereum is the first blockchain platform that supports 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: Infrastructure Tokens, Service Tokens, and Finance Tokens.

Category III: Stablecoins, typical representatives are USDT, USDC, etc., which can be mainly divided into four categories: one is stablecoins pegged to legal currency, two is stablecoins pegged to commodities, three is stablecoins supported by cryptocurrencies, and four is algorithmic stablecoins.

As of December 28, 2024, the Coingecko website counted 16,022 cryptocurrencies from 1,200 cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, with a total market value of approximately $3.43 trillion and a trading volume of approximately $165.3 billion in the past 24 hours. In terms of relative scale, this market value is equivalent to 5% of the total market value of the US stock market and 35% of the Chinese stock market. In early 2014, the total market value of global cryptocurrencies was only $10.6 billion, and the cryptocurrency market has grown more than 300 times in ten years.