The digital asset industry is beginning a major growth phase and is in a far better place than it was two years ago, investment bank Architect Partners said in a quarterly report published last week.

The value of the crypto industry climbed more than $750 billion in the first half, the company said. Growth was driven by a surge in the value of crypto tokens equating to more than $700 billion, the successful launch of spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S., which drew in more than $15 billion, and the appreciation of publicly listed crypto companies, which added a further $11 billion.

Crypto and the internet, both of which are disruptive technologies, have very similar characteristics, the report said, noting that the cryptocurrency market is recovering from the so-called crypto winter much faster than the internet recovered after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.

"Ironically, crypto has been the stepchild of the internet," but is now outperforming its predecessor and "exceeds the internet's value at the same portion of their respective life cycles," Architect said.

Deal activity is also on the rise, with the announced transaction value in the second quarter hitting a record high of $2.7 billion, exceeding the combined value of the previous eight quarters, the report noted. Architect said confidence and momentum in markets are back, with the crypto winter in the past, and "professionalism, risk management, ethical behavior, and 'doing it right' are finally becoming the foundational principles of crypto."

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