Bitcoin records $118,000 and challenges Amazon on capitalisation

Bitcoin's price exceeded the $118 trillion mark for the first time in history, bringing the capitalisation of the first cryptocurrency to the $2.4 trillion area. At the moment Bitcoin contends with Amazon for fifth place in the ranking of the most capitalised financial assets on the planet, a ranking led by physical gold (22 trillion), followed at a distance by Nvidia's stock, which just in the last few hours broke the 4 trillion barrier for the first time.

Unlike the previous all-time highs (where retail investors were the absolute protagonists of the price action on Bitcoin), this new peak in the value of the cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto sees institutional investors at the forefront.

"The recent surge in the value of Bitcoin is fuelled by substantial purchases by institutional investors, who are buying significantly into the available supply, creating diminishing liquidity on trading platforms."

In 2025, US President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, while last month the US Senate passed the Genius Act, a bill that provides a regulatory framework for stablecoins. News that confirms the currently dominant narrative that sees Bitcoin more as a kind of digital gold than a competitor to the dollar. Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell also used these words. The US strategy is therefore clear: Bitcon can be part of the state's strategic reserves (as it is considered a non-inflationary asset and therefore, like physical gold, a strategic reserve). The dollar is not threatened and, at the same time, can through blockchain technology spread more widely to the rest of the world. For this reason, major banks will be able to issue stablecoins pegged to the dollar, making it easier to penetrate emerging countries, for example.

As for the broader cryptocurrency market, there was also the jump of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, which approached the $3,000 mark again. Unlike Bitcoin, however, it is a long way from its previous highs (in the 5,000 area), as are the main alternative coins, which often live on momentary narratives and struggle to repeat at the same levels in subsequent market cycles. This too is a profound difference between the thousands of cryptocurrencies in circulation and Bitcoin.