With the total value of all Bitcoins (Bitcoin) in circulation at $190 billion,the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization now exceeds the annual output of whole economies, and the estimated worth of some of the world’s top billionaires.
Bloomberg presents five things that have been eclipsed by Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization: New Zealand’s GDP: The South Pacific nation’s farm-and-tourism-led economy is valued at $185 billion, according to World Bank data as of July, putting it some $5 billion below Bitcoin.
Goldman Sachs, and UBS: Bitcoin’s run-up has seen it valued more highly than two of the world’s most influential banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s (NYSE: GS) market cap was $97 billion as of Friday, while Zurich-based UBS Group AG (NYSE: UBS) came in at about $67 billion. Add those numbers together and it still falls short of Bitcoin. Boeing: Boeing Co.’s 9TIKER: BA.NYSE) market cap of $162 billion is also less than that of a digital currency that didn’t exist 10 years ago. The Chicago-based company, which describes itself as the world’s largest aerospace firm, is more than a century old and employs 140,000 people in more than 65 countries.
Fourteen Aircraft Carriers: If Bitcoin’s market cap could be used to buy military equipment, it would pack a mighty punch. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of a new class of nuclear-powered supercarriers, was delivered to the U.S.
Navy in May. It cost an estimated $13 billion, so if investors put all their Bitcoins together they would be able to buy a fleet of fourteen ships.
Bill Gates, Buffett and the Queen: They sit atop Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, but even if Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pooled their fortunes they wouldn’t have enough to buy all the Bitcoins in circulation. Gates is worth $90 billion and Buffett has $83 billion, according to the index.
Not even Queen Elizabeth II could get them over the line if she brought her $383 million to the table.