Bitcoin’s market cap has risen dramatically in recent months, recently clinching a spot among the top 25 largest companies and assets by market capitalization.
Bitcoin has a valuation of $241,450,178,242 at press time, according to data provided by AssetDash. The cryptocurrency’s market capitalization has risen past PayPal’s market valuation which currently sits at around $240,356,371,500, according to the analytics site. Bitcoin is now ranked as the 21st most valuable asset by market cap, with PayPal following closely behind at No.22.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization has increased by 1.97% over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, PayPal’s market cap has dropped 3.86% today. The irony of the situation is that bitcoin has overtaken PayPal shortly after the consumer payments behemoth announced that it will soon allow its customers to buy and hold bitcoin and other crypto-assets.
PayPal currently has 360 million users all over the world. The news that these users would be allowed to shop using cryptocurrency at the 26 million merchants on the PayPal network marked one of this year’s most profound crypto adoption headlines.
Notably, the official confirmation on October 21 that PayPal would be supporting cryptocurrencies fueled a fresh upsurge in bitcoin prices as it surpassed $13,000 for the first time in over a year.
The bitcoin price has grown significantly this year as more investors seek to hedge against the inflation they believe is coming due to central banks’ intervention measures. Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic back in March, central banks across the globe have undertaken ridiculous money printing practices and balance sheet expansion.
As this happens, several traditional funds and institutional investors have started to appreciate an asset with a hard-coded supply of 21 million coins — bitcoin. With new investors flocking to the asset, bitcoin has emerged as the world’s top-performing asset class of 2020. It’s no wonder the flagship cryptocurrency is now bigger than PayPal.
