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Fueled by a volatile rally in Bitcoin, the total market value of cryptocurrencies has surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in history.
Bitcoin rose as much as 4% on Thursday to top $37,5000.
According to data from tracker CoinGecko, the global market cap for all cryptocurrencies is $1.003 trillion at the time of writing. Bitcoin is the market leader with a $698 billion market cap, followed by Ethereum at $138 billion market cap.
Bitcoin has been performing a stellar rally. Prices more than tripled in the last six months to a record peak of $34,800 on January 2, after investors saw it as an alternative to the falling dollar and a hedge against inflation.
Investment bank JP Morgan said that bitcoin has emerged as a rival to gold and could trade as high as $146,000 if it becomes established as a safe-haven asset.
"We note that the spectacular bitcoin rally of the past few weeks has moved bitcoin into more challenging territory, not only in terms of its positioning backdrop, but also in terms of its valuation," JP Morgan strategists said in a note.
(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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