A look back at 2019 by the numbers

After dreading performance in the previous year, 2019 turned out to be great for investors with exposure to cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, the clear market leader, returned nearly triple-digit gains as it rallied 87% in 2019; adding roughly $63 billion to the market cap. Bitcoin’s market cap nearly doubled — from $67 to $130 billion. The gap between Bitcoin and the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, has widened significantly. Bitcoin’s market cap is now more than 9 times higher than Ethereum’s.

Ether’s price fell by 8%, erasing roughly half a billion from market capitalization. XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency, crashed by 47% in 2019. The worst yearly performance was recorded by Stellar, which fell by 61% in 2019.