Bitcoin closing in on $1 TRILLION market cap

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, crossed $900 billion in market valuation on Friday for the first time in history, as the digital asset’s price hit new record highs.

One of the oldest bitcoin exchanges still in operation, Bitstamp, recorded a peak price for the crypto of $49,000, resulting in a fleeting market cap of $912.69 billion. Bitcoin was trading at $47,146 per coin as of 08:00 GMT, up five percent over the last 24 hours and 28 percent in the last seven days.

A market cap of $900 billion means the addition of $354 billion in 2021 alone. The previous all-time high for bitcoin’s market cap was set on February 8, when it reached the $888-billion mark.

Bitcoin currently accounts for 61 percent of the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies, which also reached all-time highs, peaking at $1.463 trillion on Friday. The cumulative market cap of crypto coins grew 88.5 percent in 2021 so far after starting the year at $776 billion.

According to CompaniesMarketCap, which ranks the world’s most traded assets by their market capitalization, bitcoin is now the ninth biggest asset in the world, outpacing Facebook and Tesla in the last week. When placed on a list of nations by GDP, bitcoin’s $900 billion falls in between the countries of Mexico ($1.04 trillion) and the Netherlands ($886 billion). It is also ahead of Switzerland whose GDP stands at $707 billion.

Cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin and ethereum, started gaining more institutional support lately, triggering another massive rally. On Friday, the first bitcoin ETF was  approved in North America.

Earlier this week, America’s oldest bank BNY Mellon said it would transfer and issue bitcoin for its institutional clients. Credit card major Mastercard also said it will begin allowing clients to make payments in certain cryptocurrencies on its network this year.

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