The total value of all cryptocurrencies in the world will hit $1 trillion in 2018, the CEO of one of the world's largest digital wallet platforms told CNBC Monday.
There are over 1,300 cryptocurrencies in the world such as bitcoin and ether with the total market capitalization totaling over $587 billion, according to data from industry website Coinmarketcap.com. Market cap refers to the total value of all of the digital coins in circulation.
Peter Smith, CEO of Blockchain, which is a digital wallet provider to store cryptocurrencies, said this is likely to nearly double next year.
"I think that we'll see the total market cap of digital assets hit a trillion dollars in 2018. I don't know if it'll hold a trillion dollars but I think we'll see that milestone breached," Smith told CNBC in a TV interview Monday.
Bitcoin accounts for over 50 percent of the total cryptocurrency market cap. It is worth around $317 billion. Ether is the second-largest digital currency with a market cap of $68.9 billion. Both have had huge price rallies this year.
Some market players think bitcoin alone will be worth $1 trillion in the near future. Ronnie Moas, the founder of Standpoint Research, told CNBC on Monday that bitcoin could be valued as high as $400,000 per digital coin, with a market cap eventually reaching $1 trillion.
However, bitcoin has also received its fair share of criticism. JPMorgan Jamie Dimon famously called the cryptocurrency a "fraud" calling people who invest in it "stupid". And Deutsche Bank recently warned that a bitcoin crash could pose a risk to the broader financial market next year.