How High Can Bitcoin go? Bitcoin versus Apple, Bitcoin versus Gold and the 1 Million Mark

2022-05-12, 17:44

What if Bitcoin had Apple’s market cap? At the current number of 19,021,962 BTC mined, Bitcoin would have the value of around $136,000 dollars to overtake Apple.

What if Bitcoin replaced gold? Gold has a global market cap of roughly $12.15 trillion dollars. How much would Bitcoin have to be worth in order to replace gold? A whopping $638,000 dollars.

Can Bitcoin reach a million dollars? If Bitcoin hit a million dollars per coin today, it would have a market cap of $19 trillion dollars. That’s worth $6 trillion dollars more than all the current top 10 companies in the world combined. It is also worth almost as much as the United States' entire GDP (20.89 trillion), the richest country in the world.

Are those valuations likely for the future? Many experts seem to believe so, but only time will tell. However, as cryptocurrencies have shown over the mere 13 years since the market’s conception, anything is possible.

It’s one of the most popular discussions in the financial sphere, one that seems to hit the news day by day as media outlets bring new experts and advisors to answer the perpetually-pertinent question; how high can Bitcoin go? Whether it’s over a year, month or day period, it’s a question that will certainly stay in investors’ minds as long as Bitcoin is a relevant piece of the financial markets - meaning, for a long time.
But since Bitcoin’s existence and its price appreciation were both unprecedented events unlikely to repeat at this level, there really is no direct reference as to how high Bitcoin’s price can go. What is possible, given Bitcoin’s limited supply of 21 million BTC, is to compare it to the evaluation of other financial assets/markets and see if it holds a realistic scenario.

With that in mind, this article provides a realistic approach to Bitcoin’s potential price to see how high Bitcoin can go by comparing other financial assets and markets.

What if Bitcoin had Apple’s market cap?

Apple is the most valuable company in the world. Evaluated at around $2.6 trillion dollars at the time of writing, it first held the number one position in 2011. This year, it actually reached the market peak of $3 trillion dollars - becoming the first company to do so. Although the previous record has dropped quite substantially, it would still take Bitcoin one hell of a run to reach the same level.

At the current number of 19,021,962 BTC mined, Bitcoin would have the value of around $136,000 dollars to overtake Apple and become a digital asset most valuable than any company in the world.

Is it realistic? Definitely, and plenty of key financial leaders seem to agree. JPMorgan analysts declared in a recent report that Bitcoin is very likely to reach $150,000 in the medium to long term. Tim Draper, billionaire and venture capitalist, believes Bitcoin will cross that landmark as early as 2022 - and might also even reach $250,000 dollars this same year, although such a scenario is far less likely. In a recent report, Goldman Sachs stated that Bitcoin might manage to reach such a threshold in this decade, but only if it officially replaces gold as a store of value.

But how much would Bitcoin be worth if it actually replaced gold? The answer puts Bitcoin far higher than $100,000 dollars.

What if Bitcoin replaced gold?

It’s a decade-old comparison; ever since Bitcoin started hitting the mainstream, plenty of supporters and financial personalities started referring to the asset as “the new gold” or “the digital store of value,” the names could go on. Although Bitcoin has proven itself time and time again as a valuable asset to hedge against economic turmoil, and potentially inflation, it still has a long road ahead before it can match gold’s interest and overall market capitalization.

So how much would Bitcoin be worth if it suddenly replaced gold’s market cap? It’s important to note that, while Bitcoin has a limited supply of 21 million coins, gold has yet to find its limited last source of the reserves to make it a truly limited asset. For now, it’s unclear how much more gold is left to harvest from Earth and how that would impact its market cap.

As it stands, gold has a global market cap of roughly $12.15 trillion dollars. That’s far, far higher than Apple’s current evaluation of $2.6 trillion. How much would Bitcoin have to be worth in order to replace gold? A whopping $638,000 dollars, a landmark much further away than $136,000. But is it accomplishable? Once again, many experts seem to think so.

According to Ark Invest, the notorious innovation-focused financial firm led by Cathie Wood, both Bitcoin and Ethereum can surpass gold by 2030. In the previously mentioned report by Goldman Sachs, the firm makes it clear that not only Bitcoin would have to cross the $150,000 landmark to surpass gold - but they also find it extremely likely. The Winklevoss twins, co-creators of Facebook, also released a report back in February 2020 titled “The case for $500k Bitcoin,” showing data and case studies as to why and how the asset would reach half a million dollars.

So around 6$38,000 thousand dollars seems on the table for Bitcoin, but what about a full million? What would take for Bitcoin to reach such value?

Can Bitcoin reach a million dollars?

As disclosed earlier in the article, Bitcoin holds an unprecedented record and is the first case in history of a fully-digital asset. Therefore, while its potential is truly limitless and we have yet to see how important crypto will be for society, crossing the seven-figure mark is no easy feat at all - from where we currently stand, that’s a 2.564% appreciation of BTC’s value.

If Bitcoin hit a million dollars per coin today, it would have a market cap of $19 trillion dollars. Just to put it in perspective, that’s worth $6 trillion dollars more than all the current top 10 companies in the world combined. It is also almost ten times the amount of all US dollars in circulation. Actually, is worth almost as much as the United States' entire GDP (20.89 trillion), the richest country in the world.

Now, is that value possible? If someone in 2010 said Bitcoin - which had reached a single dollar - would someday be worth $69,000 (BTC’s all-time high), nearly everyone would disregard such a prediction with a passion. It hadn’t even reached $100 dollars yet, how could someone think of such an insane number? Yet, here we are. But the discussion of Bitcoin worth a million dollars is no longer in the billions or one, two trillion dollars; it’s comparing it to the wealth of entire nations, entire markets.

Financial experts like Cathie Wood seem to believe it will reach that value; in the same report claiming BTC and ETH will surpass gold, ARK Invest states that Bitcoin will surpass one million dollars by 2030. We are not there yet, so we can’t possibly know. However, as cryptocurrencies have shown over the mere 13 years since the market’s conception, anything is possible.

Author: Gate.io Researcher Victor Bastos
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.

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