From Zero to Trillions: How Much Has Digital Asset Trading Grown in 75 Years | Jan Krivonosov

26 Jan, 2026
| Salome K

From Zero to Trillions: How Much Has Digital Asset Trading Grown in 75 Years

The history of finance is a history of fictions that have gained value through collective belief. We are witnessing a new logical turn in this evolution, where belief is encoded in algorithms and trust is distributed across network nodes. Digital assets are not an escape from reality, but the creation of a new, more efficient coordinate system for the economy of the future.

Introduction: From Warehouse Receipts to Smart Contracts

Throughout my career in the crypto industry, I am often asked the same question: “So how much has this market really grown?” Some speak of infinite percentage growth from nothing, others of hundreds or thousands of percent. Let us operate strictly with facts and trace the path asset trading has taken over the past 75 years – from the era of paper certificates to the era of tokens on the blockchain.

In the middle of the 20th century, in the 1950s, the volume of digital asset trading was zero — the very concept did not exist. Today, we are dealing with a multi-trillion-dollar industry. And this growth is measured not in abstract percentages from zero, but in concrete, staggering figures.

For clarity, let us take the period from 2017 to 2025 – just eight years during which the industry moved from a niche hobby to the financial mainstream. Daily trading volume grew more than 30 times: from approximately $5 billion to a record $162 billion. And the annual turnover of just one segment — perpetual futures in the crypto market – reached $86.2 trillion by the end of 2025.

Part 1: How We Moved from Real to Digital – The Inevitable Evolution

The Era of Tangible Assets (1950s-1980s)

In the middle of the last century, all value was tangible. Stocks and bonds were beautiful paper certificates, and a transaction meant their physical transfer. Control was centralized and opaque. The volume of trading in what we today call digital assets was absolute zero.

We traded factories, machine tools, and goods. And even then, the value of companies already contained that very “air” – belief in future earnings, far exceeding the value of their physical assets.

The Era of Dematerialization and the First Digital Records (1990s–2008)

With the advent of computers, paper certificates began to disappear, turning into records in electronic databases. This accelerated trading but changed only the form, not the essence, of the system. Control remained in the hands of exchanges and depositories.

The 2008 crisis became a painful lesson in blind trust in centralized institutions. It was this crisis that gave birth to Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto’s idea of a distributed ledger that cannot be forged laid the first stone in the foundation of a new market – one that would begin to grow not by the day, but by the hour.

The Blockchain Revolution and Explosive Growth (2009–Present)

Starting in 2009, with the creation of Bitcoin, a history that can be measured truly begins. The market grew chaotically, but at an incredible pace. With the advent of Ethereum and smart contracts, it became clear that blockchain is a new global trust machine, capable of tokenizing anything.

The key breakthrough in volume occurred over the last 5–8 years. Data shows that from 2017 to 2019 alone, cryptocurrency trading volume grew by 960% – from $5 billion to $53 billion per day. Peak values at the end of 2025 recorded an average daily volume of $161.8 billion. This means that in just eight years, daily turnover grew more than 30 times.

But the real indicator of the market’s scale and maturity has been the stablecoin segment – digital dollars. If in 2017 they were in their infancy, then by the end of 2025 their total capitalization reached a record $311 billion, increasing by 48.9% (+$102.1 billion) in just one year.

Their turnover is already comparable to giants like Visa, which proves one thing clearly: this is not a speculative instrument, but a new payment infrastructure for the global economy.

Part 2: The Current Landscape – Where Are We Today?

Today, we are observing not a niche market, but an emerging parallel financial system. The figures for 2024–2025 speak for themselves:

Total cryptoasset market capitalization consistently exceeds $2.5 trillion and reached $4 trillion during peak periods.
Institutional recognition has become a fact: spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, and other giants have attracted tens of billions of dollars, legitimizing the asset class for traditional investors.
The market has gone beyond currencies. NFTs have evolved from pictures into tools for rights tokenization, and the tokenized real-world assets (RWA) sector, according to some reports, showed growth of 2,695% in 2025.

And here I turn again to the skeptics shouting about “trading air.” Ask an artist from Africa or a programmer from Asia who gained access to the global market.

Value is a subjective concept. If technology gives millions of people new opportunities for creativity, investment, and income, is that not real value? We are simply accustomed to the idea that value must be physical. Blockchain breaks this paradigm.

Part 3: States and the New Reality – You Can’t Fight It, You Can Profit From It

Smart states, having discarded initial skepticism, understood a simple truth: this technology cannot be banned, but it can — and should — be regulated and taxed. Countries that create clear rules of the game become centers of capital attraction.

Russia is following its own path here, having created a regulated framework for Digital Financial Assets (DFA). The dynamics of this market are a vivid example of how quickly a niche develops when legal frameworks are in place:

By the end of 2025, the volume of funds raised through DFAs reached 1.63 trillion rubles.
In the second quarter of 2025 alone, the market grew by 75%; since the beginning of the year, growth reached 86.1%.
The forecast for 2026 assumes further growth of 50%, to 1.5 trillion rubles.

This is not “air.” This is an influx of real capital into a regulated economy, new jobs in IT and legal fields, and budget replenishment. Those entering this niche today — whether investors, startups, or entire states — are building tomorrow’s infrastructure.

Part 4: What Awaits Us in 5 and 50 Years? A Forecast Based on Numbers

Based on current trends and historical growth rates, justified forecasts can be made.

The Next 5 Years (by 2030)

The tokenization of everything will become mainstream. The RWA market, which has already demonstrated four-digit percentage growth, will expand to include real estate, debt instruments, and commodities. Trading volumes of digital rights will begin to seriously compete with traditional exchanges.
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins will become the main settlement layer of the digital economy, increasing turnover by orders of magnitude.
The digital asset management market is projected to grow from $5.65 billion in 2025 to $25.58 billion by 2035.

The Next 50 Years (by 2075)

We will stop dividing assets into “real” and “digital.” A digital record on the blockchain will become the universal standard of ownership for anything – from apartments and company shares to algorithms or genetic code.

Trading volumes will reflect all of humanity’s economic activity in real time. The financial system will evolve into a global, transparent, and open protocol. If humanity establishes a colony on Mars, such an interplanetary accounting and settlement system on the blockchain will be the only logical solution.

Conclusion: This Is Not Speculation – This Is Construction

The numbers reviewed leave no doubt: the growth of digital asset trading is unprecedented in history. We have come a long way from zero in the 1950s to daily turnovers of hundreds of billions of dollars. This is not merely a financial bubble — it is a fundamental paradigm shift in ownership and value.

Blockchain technology gives us the tools to build a world where rights are proven in seconds, artists receive fair compensation, and capital flows more freely. Yes, in the early stages there is always speculation — it was the same with railroads and the internet. But what remains afterward is a new, more advanced infrastructure.

The question is no longer whether digital assets will overtake traditional ones. The question is when they will become the primary accounting and trading environment for them.

This train left the station long ago — and it is only accelerating.