Bitcoin Price Hits Record-High $28,000; BTC Market Cap Exceeds $500 Billion

After Bitcoin’s impressive run toward breaching $20,000, the benchmark cryptocurrency did not retrace as expected. Instead, it pierced through one resistance after another until eventually hitting $28,320. At that price point, Bitcoin’s market cap stood at $500 billion.

When Bitcoin broke above the psychological resistance at $20,000, it took one day to claim $22,000 and then two more days to break past $23,000. For five days, the dominant cryptocurrency stayed within the $23,000 to $24,000 range.

With notable volume, bulls penetrated $24,000 on Thursday, $26,000 on Christmas Day and $28,000 the next day. The touchdown to $28,000 has been short, but at the time of writing, Bitcoin is around $26,850.

At the current price point, Bitcoin is up 16% in the last seven days, 276% since the year began and 293% in the last 365 days.

The market capitalization of Bitcoin is now $500 billion. The market cap of Bitcoin is now higher than Visa, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase and Mastercard, according to AssetDash.

It’s currently the 11th biggest asset in the world behind Berkshire Hathaway, whose market cap is $531 billion. Incidentally, Berkshire’s CEO, the Oracle of Omaha himself — Warren Buffett — has famously been quoted as saying that he does not like Bitcoin.

While the 2017 bull run was incited by retail investors, institutional investors ran the show in 2020, Coindesk reported. Institutions like former White House director of communications Anthony Scaramucci’s Skybridge Capital and 139-year-old MassMutual put $25 million and $100 million, respectively, into Bitcoin. Guggenheim investments put up to 10% of its $5 billion stash.

Public companies like MicroStrategy and Square have put portions of their reserves into Bitcoin, while PayPal allowed its U.S. customers to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Analysts are now looking at a possible ascent to $30,000, especially since these institutions, such as Guggenheim, are estimating that Bitcoin’s value should be at $400,000. With the next stimulus package now approved, it remains to be seen how this new macro event will affect Bitcoin.