Bitcoin’s (BTC) monumental rally has further solidified its position as one of the largest assets in the world by market cap.
On Monday, the leading cryptocurrency’s price rose by 4% to an all-time high of $72,400, resulting in its valuation surpassing that of silver.
Bitcoin’s Market Cap Hits $1.4 Trillion, Leaving Silver in the Dust
As per data provided by CompaniesMarketCap, Bitcoin now has a market valuation of $1.4 trillion, while silver’s market cap stood at $1.3 trillion. The crypto asset is now the eighth-largest property in the world by market cap.
While BTC was on a record-breaking run, beating its all-time highs twice in a week, silver was trading at a partly $24.66.
Earlier during the bull run, Bitcoin pushed itself past the market cap of Meta – the parent company of Facebook, which now has a market cap of $1.2 trillion, and Berkshire Hathaway, which is valued at $877.7 billion.
Next up in Bitcoin’s trail is Google’s parent Alphabet, whose current valuation is just shy of $1.7 trillion.
After Passing Silver and Meta, Bitcoin has set its Sight on Gold – the World’s Largest Asset
The asset with the world’s largest market cap remains to be gold, which has a size of $14.66 trillion. However, some pro-Bitcoin advocates believe that the apex cryptocurrency has the potential to surpass gold’s market cap.
For this to happen, Bitcoin would have to rise by more than 10-fold, pricing itself at $720,000 per token.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Performance Instrumental in Record-Breaking Rally
Bitcoin’s latest price surge comes on the back of another successful week for the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that began trading in the US on January 11th.
According to data from BitMEX Research, the total net inflow of the spot Bitcoin ETFs since its launch is now $9.59 billion.
Global asset manager BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has led the ETF race among the ten funds approved by the US SEC, boasting a notional value of $14.7 billion as of March 11th. To date, the fund has accumulated 203,754 BTC for investors.
The ETF hit a record daily inflow of $788.3 million last Wednesday when Bitcoin crossed its previous all-time high of $69,000.
Following IBIT in second place is Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which has amassed $9.2 trillion worth of BTC in assets under management. Both funds dominate the spot Bitcoin ETF market after having collectively procured over $17 billion from eligible investors.
Reports suggest that the 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs hold over $50 billion worth of BTC in their reserves.
London Stock Exchange Approves Bitcoin ETNs
In another positive development for the eighth-largest asset in the world, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has approved the listing of exchange-traded notes (ETNs) backed by Bitcoin.
According to a factsheet released by the stock exchange, ETN issuers must ensure that their notes are physically backed by Bitcoin and their price must be equivalent to the value of the underlying asset.
The Bitcoin backing the ETN has to be strictly held in a cold storage solution with staking capabilities.
Moreover, the custodians holding the asset are subject to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws in the United Kingdom, United States, European Union, and Switzerland.
The ETNs will be available to investors whom the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) determines as “professional”, such as credit institutions and investment firms, starting in the second quarter of 2024.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $72,171 – up 0.4% in the last 24 hours.
