The total crypto market cap crossed the $4 trillion threshold for the first time in 2025, marking the industry’s broad progress. The number of crypto mobile wallet users also reached all-time highs, up 20% from last year. Traditional financial institutions and major corporations have significantly increased their involvement in crypto. The launch and success of Bitcoin and Ethereum Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) have made digital assets more accessible to institutional capital. Publicly traded companies holding crypto on their balance sheets have also grown.
Despite the mid-2025 market cap peak, major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) experienced significant corrections. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $126,000 in early October before falling below $90,000 by November. Analysts noted this is not a new “crypto winter” but rather reflects broader macroeconomic uncertainty impacting riskier assets.
This cryptocurrency growth has challenged traditional fiat currency by introducing a decentralized, secure, and transparent digital alternative that bypasses central authorities like governments and central banks. However, this is more of an evolution than a complete shift, with many analysts expecting a hybrid future where the two systems coexist.
Issuer: Centralized vs Decentralized
Fiat currency is issued exclusively by a central authority. Central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, or People’s Bank of China, have sole control over creating new units of the currency. Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, have no central issuer.
Bitcoin, for example, is generated through a decentralized mining process. Anyone running the Bitcoin software can compete to solve computational puzzles, and the successful miner adds a new block to the blockchain, receiving newly minted bitcoin as a reward. No single company, government, or foundation controls issuance; instead, the network collectively follows rules embedded in open-source code.
Control: Governments vs Code
Control over fiat money rests with governments and central banks. They can adjust interest rates, impose capital controls, freeze accounts, reverse transactions (chargebacks), or devalue the currency through policy decisions. Historical examples include account freezes during the 2013 Cyprus banking crisis and restrictions on transactions during Canada’s 2022 trucker protests.
Cryptocurrency is controlled only by its protocol code and network consensus. No single party can freeze a correctly secured wallet, reverse a confirmed transaction, or change network rules without overwhelming agreement from miners or stakers. The rules are enforced automatically across thousands of independent nodes worldwide, making manipulation practically impossible.
Supply: Managed vs Fixed/Predictable
Fiat money supply is actively managed by central banks. They can print unlimited amounts through mechanisms like quantitative easing or destroy money by raising reserve requirements. Since the end of the gold standard in 1971, major currencies have no hard supply cap. For instance, the US M2 money supply grew by roughly 40% between 2020 and 2021.
Most major cryptocurrencies, however, have algorithmically defined supply schedules written into their code. Bitcoin has a permanent cap of 21 million coins, with the last bitcoin expected to be mined around 2140. Its issuance rate halves approximately every four years in predetermined “halving” events. Ethereum, following its Merge, does not have a fixed cap but follows a minimum issuance schedule combined with fee-burning mechanisms that often create deflationary effects. Any change to cryptocurrency supply rules requires near-unanimous consensus across the network, a rare and complex process.
Verification: Banks vs Blockchain
Fiat transactions are verified by trusted intermediaries, such as banks, payment processors, and central ledgers. Users rely on these institutions to accurately record balances and transfers. Transactions can be censored, delayed, or reversed by these intermediaries.
In contrast, cryptocurrency transactions are verified through a public blockchain, a distributed ledger replicated across thousands of nodes. Anyone can download the entire blockchain (for example, the Bitcoin blockchain is roughly 699 GB as of 2025) and independently verify every transaction. Once a transaction is confirmed in a block and buried under subsequent blocks, it becomes practically irreversible. Verification relies on cryptographic signatures and consensus protocols rather than institutional trust.
Jefferson Wachira is a writer at Africa Digest News, specializing in banking and finance trends, and their impact on African economies.