$160 Bln, Bitcoin's Market Cap is Larger Than That of Once World's Largest Company

GE, with a $123 bln annual revenue and 295,000 employees globally, still remains as a leading US-based conglomerate. In July of 2016, the market valuation of GE briefly surpassed $300 bln, nearing the market cap of other major firms like JPMorgan. But, since 2015, GE has struggled, as its market cap fell by nearly 50 percent.

Meanwhile, since 2015, the market cap of Bitcoin has increased from $2.5 bln to $185 bln, by 74-fold.

Unfair comparison
As a store of value and a digital currency, the market valuation of Bitcoin should rather be compared to other assets, stores of value and currencies such as gold and reserve currencies. But, it is important to acknowledge the rapid growth rate of Bitcoin in comparison to companies in leading industries because the transformation Bitcoin has brought upon the finance industry has been truly impactful.

Bitcoin has surpassed leading currencies on the M1 index as well this year. This week for instance, the market valuation of Bitcoin surpassed the total money supply of the British pound.

Many experts and analysts including billionaire hedge fund legend Mike Novogratz have stated that Bitcoin price could easily reach $40,000 by the end of 2018, or $1 tln in market cap. Novogratz said:

"Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could. There's a big wave of money coming, not just here but all around the world. What's different about these coins than other commodities ... there is no supply response here. So it's a speculator's dream in that as buying happens there's no new supply response that comes up. So every price move gets exaggerated. It's going to get exaggerated on the way up. There will be 50 percent corrections. It will get exaggerated on the way down.”

As Bitcoin price enters the $45,000 range and the market cap of the cryptocurrency achieves $1 tln, analysts will begin to compare Bitcoin with conventional safe haven assets such as gold.

Bitcoin against traditional stores of value
Currently, the entire Bitcoin market is about three percent of the multi-trillion dollar gold market. But, if Bitcoin continues to increase in value and reaches $40,000 by the end of 2018 as noted by Novogratz, it will soon be able to compete against the gold market and other stores of value such as reserve currencies.