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> Where does the $52 billion market valuation come from?

That seems to be a mistake in the article. $52 billion market cap is of all currently tracked cryptocurrencies, not just bitcoin.[1] Bitcoin is ~$28.7 billion right now.[2]

[1]: https://coinmarketcap.com/charts/

[2]: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

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Also, beware that the marketcap figures are not quite true [1]. They calculate based on the total supply rather than the circulated supply and on some (scam)cases like the recent Gnosis ICO it results in crazy amounts.

[1]: https://blog.sia.tech/want-to-deflate-the-token-bubble-fix-t...

Another problem with that number is there is no way to tell if a coin is being hoarded or if it lost forever. If that hoarded number is high, it presents a risk that a hoarder could offload their coins and crash the market. If that hoarded number is low, it means the actual size of the market is much less than people claim.

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