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Following the latest price developments for bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s market cap has entered the top ten assets by market capitalization. More recently, BTC has closed the gap with Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and clean energy company, Tesla.
Bitcoin Nears Tesla’s Market Cap
The cryptocurrency has been on a remarkable run since October 2020. It ended last year with gains of over 300% after finally managed to break above $20,000 and head into uncharted territory.
So far, bitcoin has continued with its bullish performance in 2021 as well, adding about 30% in a week. The latest conquered milestone came just hours ago, as BTC painted a new all-time high of $38,600.
Naturally, when the asset’s price grows, so does its market capitalization. In BTC’s case, the market cap is determined by multiplying the number of coins in circulation by the price of each.
After today’s record, the cumulative market capitalization of the largest cryptocurrency reached $715 billion, according to data from Asset Dash. This placed BTC at the 7th spot in the rankings of the monitoring resource. Meaning, that bitcoin has neared the market cap of Elon Musk’s electric vehicle giant – Tesla.
Although the two have a relatively similar market cap as of now, it’s worth noting that they represent entirely different asset groups. Bitcoin is an unregulated, free-market product that trades 24/7. On the other hand, Tesla is a publicly-traded company that recently joined the large US index – the S&P 500.
Asset Dash’s data also shows that bitcoin surpassed several notable names on its way up. Those include the financial giants MasterCard, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Visa, Verizon Communications, Alibaba Group Holding, and Tencent.
If BTC overcomes Tesla as well, the next targets will be Facebook ($775M), Alphabet ($1.2T), Amazon ($1.6T), Microsoft ($1.65T), and the world’s most valuable firm by market cap – Apple ($2.2 trillion).
The History Between Elon Musk And Bitcoin
Tesla’s co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk, has a compelling history with bitcoin, filled with bizarre and sometimes sarcastic tweets. In January 2020, he said that “bitcoin is not my safe word,” and he provided a closure nearly a year later, saying that “bitcoin is my safe word.”
While the idea behind these sorts of tweets has mostly remained a mystery, or perhaps just a joke, he’s also discussed the future of the primary cryptocurrency more seriously. Musk said previously that bitcoin probably wouldn’t replace fiat currencies but has a role in the financial system.
Interestingly, he has also been more open and supportive of another cryptocurrency – Dogecoin. His Twitter profile displayed “former CEO of Dogecoin” until recently, and some of his tweets had pumped the asset’s price by up to triple digits.
This article was first published on January 7, 2021.
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