So huge has bitcoin become that it is now touted to be even bigger than Buffett, Boeing, and New Zealand economy.
With bitcoin’s astounding price surge with its record-setting achievement of more than $11,000, last week means its market capitalization now surpasses the annual output of whole economies and the estimated worth of some top billionaires of the world.
While the debate over the threat of bitcoin suffering from a bubble still raging, the flagship cryptocurrency climbed this year to more than 1,000 percent. Market tracker Coinmarkercap.com now puts the total value of all bitcoins in circulation at US$190 billion, a far cry indeed from what it stood only in August when one coin could buy one a hefty supply of avocados.
Bitcoin’s value is even higher now than New Zealand’s economy valued at $185 billion, placing it $5 billion below bitcoin. World Bank data assessed the value of the South Pacific nation’s farm-and-tourism-led economy. Bitcoin’s market cap is also higher than the likes of Qatar, Kuwait, and Hungary.
Bitcoin’s run-up is also now being seen as higher in value than two of the world’s most influential banks- Goldman Sachs Group and Zurich-based UBS Group AG.
Goldman Sachs’ market cap is pegged at $97 billion as of Friday while UBS Group is about $67 billion. Even if the two banks combine their respective market caps, they will still fall short of bitcoin.
Even giant Boeing, makers of jumbo jets, only has a market cap of $162 billion, way less than bitcoin’s value, a digital currency that didn’t even exist a decade ago. Boeing, based in Chicago, is the world’s largest aerospace firm. It has been in the business for more than a century and employs about 140,000 people in more than 65 countries.
Boeing’s rival, Airbus SE, is also no match to bitcoin, with its market value pegged only at $105.47 billion.
So huge is the value of bitcoin now that it could easily buy a mighty package of military equipment. It cost $13 billion to make the USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of a new class of nuclear-powered supercarriers which was delivered to the U.S. Navy in May.
If investors put all their bitcoins together, they would be able, in fact, to buys a fleet of fourteen ships.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett may sit atop Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, still even if they pooled their fortunes they wouldn’t have enough to buy the all the bitcoins in circulation, even if they have combined worth of $173 billion.
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