With a new record high of over $ 25,000, Bitcoin’s market cap is now larger than Visa’s.
On yesterday, December 25th, Bitcoin ( BTC ) climbed above the 25,000 US dollar mark on the Bitstamp crypto exchange and thus achieved a (further) new record high . At the same time, the market-leading cryptocurrency has a larger market capitalization than the payment giant Visa.
The leading payment company Visa has a market value of $ 460.06 billion as of December 26, according to Yahoo Finance, while Bitcoin is now at more than $ 462 billion.
Apples and pears?
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer (P2P) based blockchain protocol, while Visa is a for-profit business. This could lead the reader to the conclusion that a comparison between the two is not permissible.
Nonetheless, the comparison of the two “payment systems” has a symbolic value, because the current market capitalization makes Bitcoin the thirteenth largest company in the world at the moment (see above).
The interest of institutional investors in Bitcoin received a significant boost in 2020. The demand from major investors is now increasing exponentially , and the confidence of institutional investors could be further strengthened by the fact that the cryptocurrency now depends on another major “competitor”, Visa.
More and more institutions and major investors are entering the crypto market via the large asset management company Grayscale and the Bitcoin futures of the CME Group’s options exchange. The assets under management by Grayscale now amount to almost 17 billion US dollars, while the open interest of the CME Bitcoin futures is consistently above 1 billion US dollars.
Ironically, Visa itself has shown more and more interest in the crypto market in recent months, after the two large payment service providers and competitors PayPal and Square have also been betting on Bitcoin.
Wirex, a company that issues Visa debit cards for cryptocurrencies, has been named a strategic partner of Visa Europe. Cuy Sheffield, the executive director of cryptocurrencies at Visa, said :
“Digital currencies have the potential to expand the added value of digital payments to even more people and regions. We’re excited to partner with innovative fintech companies like Wirex, which enable their customers to pay with digital currencies at more than 61 million retailers on the Visa network. ”
What’s next for Bitcoin?
Meanwhile, the crypto experts are confident that Bitcoin will continue to climb, at least in the short term
The crypto analyst Intotheblock thinks that an important support area has arisen between 23,069 – 23,377 US dollars that can support the latest upward trend. To this end he writes :
“Bitcoin has managed to consolidate above $ 23,000. The IOMAP indicator confirms this thesis as it shows strong support between 23,069 – 23,377.1 US dollars. In this area, almost 900,000 addresses had recently bought 796,000 BTC.