Cryptocurrencies have been around for some time now and have been recording an upward trend. However, for the past eight months the crypto market has been bearish—the value of bitcoin, the world’s dominant cryptocurrency, has been falling. The trend has left many of the fiercest critics of bitcoin feeling validated about their prediction of the digital currency’s fall. Some of the big names, such as Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO; Jim Cramer, the host for Mad Money on CNBC; Robert Shiller, the Nobel economist; and every media personality, all appear to be of the opinion that the trend of bitcoin depreciation will continue. Nevertheless, a lot of evidence shows that the pattern will be reversed and will be on the upward trajectory again. There is no doubt that bitcoin specifically and the crypto market at large are now a vital and sizable portion of the global economy.

Understanding the world’s money

In an attempt to understand the world’s money, we will look into a number of different comparisons of its various dimensions. Below is a table of this comparison:

Notes

• All money refers to money in every form, even bank deposits and other deposits, as well as notes and coins.
• Physical money is money that can be utilized as a medium of exchange— mainly notes, coins, and certain balances that banks are holding.

As of the latest available data (September 17, 2018), all figures are from various sources, like Forbes. 

The position of Bitcoin in the world’s wealth

Looking at the table, all the world’s bitcoin is of higher value than Bill Gates’s wealth, and is almost the same as Jeff Bezos’s. The sum of all cryptocurrencies in the world amounts to $202B. Bitcoin’s total market value has increased by more than 200%, having gone from $41B to $112B in the past year. For great content on cryptocurrency and the blockchain community, you can count on nakitcoins.com, one of the best informative sites on such matters. It is noteworthy that downturns are not new phenomena in the crypto world, according to some research. The value of cryptocurrencies has been known to rise and drop, but over the last one and a half years, bitcoin has registered substantial growth in value.

A further breakdown of the position of cryptocurrencies in the world’s money

The large figures in the table above are somewhat inconceivable, so below are some ways to simplify them:

•  The total market value of Amazon is $858B higher than the total worth of the world’s bitcoin ($970B vs. $112B).
• Apple, the world’s first trillion dollar company, is valued $888B more than bitcoin ($1T vs. $112B).
• All the world’s gold is over 70 times more than bitcoin ($7.8T vs. $112B).
• If we put together all the cryptocurrencies that exist, their value would be 0.59% of all the physical money in the world ($34.4T vs. $202B).
• Compared to the worth of the world’s stock market, cryptocurrencies are tinier—they are equal to 0.30 % ($67.5T vs. $202B).
• The most crucial comparison is that the value of cryptocurrencies is equivalent to only 0.23% of all the world’s money—referring to money in all forms ($86.5T vs. $202B).

Conclusion

Going by the comparisons above, it is clear that cryptocurrencies are a vital part of the world’s economy that we cannot overlook. Only time will show how well they will grow and whether they will occupy a crucial position.