Banking giants bullish on crypto despite market cap falling below $1.5 trillion

Cryptocurrency market cap fell bellow $1.5 trillion as a result of the current market crash. Credit: Pixabay

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) – The total crypto market capitalization continues to fall to new low levels for almost a year. During the last weekend, over $130 billion got wiped out, pushing the total cryptocurrency market cap to a little over $1.6 trillion. The last time the market fell to such levels was in August 2021. However, as the week started, the bear market extended the total losses, wiping out an additional $170 billion. At the time of writing, the total crypto market cap was worth a little over $1.4 trillion, nearly 34% below January 1 numbers. Despite the massive dip, banking giants remain bullish on crypto. As the latest developments suggest, financial institutions are not shying away from putting their capital out to back crypto startups.

According to the Financial Times, US-based crypto technology company Talos raised $105 million from major financial institutions. The latest Series B funding round attracted investments from giants like Citigroup Inc., BNY Mellon, and Wells Fargo & Co. This takes the company’s valuation to $1.25 billion.

Other backers of the tech startup include venture capital investors Andreessen Horowitz, General Atlantic, Coinbase Ventures, and PayPal Ventures, all of whom have previously invested in the company.

The total crypto market cap has fallen 34% since January. Credit: CoinMarketCap

Investors bet big on Talos. What does the future hold for crypto?

The crypto market peaked in November 2021, reaching close to $3 trillion. However, despite the subsequent decline, investors are sticking around.

Cathie Wood-led ARK Investment Management predicts the price of Bitcoin (BTC) to exceed $1 million by 2030. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, could surpass the $20 trillion market capitalization by the same year, according to ARK.

“As financial services move on-chain, decentralized networks are likely to take share from existing financial intermediaries,”
a report report by Ark Invest says.

As the latest funding round of Telos suggests, Ark Invest is not the only one expecting the markets to recover. BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the United States, has good justification for its bullish attitude.

“We see crypto as the tip of the spear. Other types of assets are going to be tokenised and be made available on this type of infrastructure,”
Mike Demissie, head of digital assets and advanced solutions at BNY Mellon said.

While investors try to figure out ways to minimize their losses in the current bear market, this comes as positive news. With big banks and financial giants backing crypto startups, the message is clear. The technology is here to stay, despite the market crash.