Why Bitcoin’s market capitalization reached a new all-time high before the price
Although Bitcoin has mobilized to reach a new historical high of market capitalization, the milestone seems not to have captured the attention of the main media and the general public.
The latest stage of Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent rebound saw its market capitalization exceed USD 330 billion for the first time, while the price rose above USD 17,750 by the end of November.
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According to CoinGecko, the previous high for Bitcoin capitalization of $329.3 billion was recorded on December 16, 2017, in the midst of the historic upward cycle where the price of Bitcoin reached $20,000.
BTC market capitalization since 2017.
However, the new peak in market capitalization came despite the fact that the price of BTC has not reached new highs.
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There’s a very simple explanation for that: the increasing supply of Bitcoin. While there were approximately 16,746 million Bitcoins as of December 16, 2017, more than 1.8 million coins have been mined since then, which is a 10.75% increase in supply. This means that Bitcoin is able to have a higher market capitalization even though its price is currently lower.
The combined capitalization of all the crypto currencies also exceeded $500 billion for the first time since February 2018.
Combined capitalization of all crypto-currencies since 2017
According to the World Bank, Bitcoin’s market capitalization exceeds that of combined publicly traded companies based in countries such as Belgium, Iran, Norway, Sweden and the Philippines, respectively, more than double that of companies in Denmark, Qatar, Vietnam, Colombia and Poland.
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Compared to companies in the S&P 500, Bitcoin’s market capitalization is approximately $13 billion behind Procter and Gamble’s eleventh position, and above Nvidia and JP Morgan. However, some would argue that comparing Bitcoin to companies isn’t very enlightening and that it should be compared to commodities, or some other asset class.
Despite the market capitalization milestone, some analysts point to the lack of media coverage of Bitcoin’s recent gains.
Media attention going down. Price to the moon!
Chart shown just now on Joe @TheStalwart’s show. pic.twitter.com/kXHjCtDPZ2
– Mati Greenspan (tweets ≠ financial advice) (@MatiGreenspan) November 17, 2020
However, according to data shared by LunarCRUSH, a company that tracks social network sentiment in relation to cryptomonies, the volume of Bitcoin-related news experienced a significant peak since early November.
The company tweeted a graph showing that the volume of daily media coverage related to Bitcoin has increased fivefold in the last two weeks.
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According to Google Trends, the volume of searches for the keyword „Bitcoin“ during November is approximately 15% of the 2017 search peak, further evidencing the relative lack of retail interest in BTC compared to the last time the market was reaching parabolic peaks.
Relative volume of searches for the word ‚Bitcoin‘ in the last five years.
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In fact, the volume of searches is only at its fourth highest level in 2020, lagging behind the spikes in interest that coincided with the „Black Thursday“ crash in March, the Bitcoin halving in May, and the BTC break over USD 10,000 in May.