Crypto: markets reference

A crypto asset exists as an entry on a blockchain, a shared record of transactions replicated across many computers, updated and verified through a defined technical process rather than by a bank or government. Bitcoin was designed primarily as a store of value and medium of exchange with a fixed maximum supply. Ethereum introduced a broader platform for running programs, called smart contracts, on top of its blockchain, enabling other tokens and applications to be built on it. Stablecoins are a separate category of crypto asset designed to maintain a stable value by being backed by, or pegged to, a reserve asset such as the US dollar.

Crypto assets trade on centralised exchanges operated by companies that match buy and sell orders, as well as on decentralised exchanges that execute trades directly through blockchain-based smart contracts without a central operator. Because no single central clock governs the network, most crypto markets trade continuously, every day of the week including weekends and public holidays, unlike traditional exchanges with fixed sessions. Liquidity and trading volume nonetheless vary through the day and week, often following patterns linked to major exchanges' geographic user bases and to scheduled economic or company-specific announcements.

Individual retail holders buy and hold crypto assets through accounts on exchanges or in self-custodied wallets that they control directly. Crypto-native trading firms and market makers provide liquidity across exchanges. A growing number of asset managers offer regulated investment products, including exchange-traded funds in some jurisdictions, that give investors exposure to crypto asset prices without directly holding the underlying tokens. Miners and network validators operate the computing infrastructure that processes and secures transactions on proof-of-work and proof-of-stake blockchains respectively, and are compensated with newly issued tokens or transaction fees for doing so.

Crypto assets are typically quoted against a fiat currency, such as BTC/USD, or against another crypto asset used as a trading pair, such as ETH/BTC. Because trading is spread across many independent exchanges rather than one central venue, the price for the same asset can differ slightly between platforms at a given moment, a gap that automated trading sometimes narrows. Prices and trading volume are published continuously by exchanges and by data aggregators that combine figures from multiple platforms into a single reference price.

A wallet stores the cryptographic keys needed to access and transfer crypto assets, and can be self-custodied by the holder or held on their behalf by an exchange. A blockchain's ledger is described as public or permissioned depending on who can read and validate it. Market capitalisation for a crypto asset is calculated as its price multiplied by its circulating supply. Volatility refers to the size and frequency of price swings, which has historically been larger for many crypto assets than for most traditional asset classes described on this site.

Crypto asset prices have historically shown large and rapid swings, and a token's value can fall sharply or, in some cases documented across the industry, to zero if a project fails or a platform is compromised. Regulatory frameworks vary widely: the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation sets a licensing regime for crypto firms operating in the bloc, the US applies existing securities, commodities and banking laws through agencies including the SEC and CFTC depending on how a token is classified, and other jurisdictions range from permissive to restrictive. This page describes how crypto markets are structured; it does not forecast prices or recommend acquiring any token.