Where have all those money gone?
Or, they where never invested in bitcoin and crypto?
First of all...
There is no actual "Market Capitalization" for cryptocurrencies. That phrase has no real meaning when talking about a commodity or currency. It is a phrase that applies to shares of a company or business.
However, people who buy-and-sell bitcoin as a speculative investment often like to think of Bitcoin like a stock, so they multiply the current exchange rate by the total bitcoins created so far and mistakenly use the words "Market Capitalization" to describe the result.
That being said, "Market Cap" has nothing to do with the amount of money "invested".
"Market Cap" is simply a calculation of:
price X quantity
So, for example:
Lets say I create a brand new crypto currency called PidgeonCoin. Lets say I create and give out to 1,000 people (including you) 100 PidgeonCoins each for free. The total number of coins created so far is 100,000, but the "Market Cap" is still $0. Now lets say an exchange lists my made up coin, and you list 1 PidgeonCoin for sale on the exchange. Lets say someone that doesn't have any PidgeonCoins yet buys that 1 PidgeonCoin from you for $50.
The total amount of fiat "invested" so far in PidgeonCoin is $50.
The market value of 1 PidgeonCoin is now established at $50/PDC.
The value of your remaining 99 PidgeonCoins at the current market rate (for as long as $50 remains the current market value) is $4950 .
But the "so-called" Market Cap is:
$50 X 100,000 coins = $5,000,000
Notice that there hasn't been $5,000,000 invested in PidgeonCoin. Only $50 so far.
Now lets say I later list 1 PidgeonCoin for sale on the exchange. Lets say someone that doesn't have any PidgeonCoins yet buys that 1 PidgeonCoin from me for $5.
The total amount of fiat "invested" so far in PidgeonCoin has now INCREASED from $50 to $55.
The market valueof 1 PidgeonCoin has now DECREASED from $50 to $5.
The value of your remaining 99 PidgeonCoins at the current market rate (for as long as $5 remains the current market value) has DECREASED from $4950 to only $495.
But the "so-called" Market Cap is now:
$5 X 100,000 coins = $500,000
Notice that $4,500,000 didn't go anywhere. The total amount of money invested in PidgeonCoin has actually INCREASED. You never had $4950, you just had 99 PidgeonCoins. What has changed is how much those PidgeonCoins are worth.