Bitcoin Just Beat Amazon. Is Apple Next?
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
After jumping nearly 13% in just a week, the world's most famous cryptocurrency crossed $122,600 and hit a market cap of roughly $2.4 trillion. That pushed it ahead of Amazon's estimated $2.3 trillion valuation, making Bitcoin one of the five most valuable assets on Earth. Not bad for a digital token some still call 'fake internet money.'
Bitcoin ETFs Fueled the Surge
The move wasn't driven by hype alone. A record wave of inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs played a huge role. In two back-to-back trading days, U.S.-listed Bitcoin funds pulled in over $1 billion each, the strongest streak since they launched in early 2024. These ETFs have become the gateway for traditional investors, from hedge funds to pension managers, to get exposure to Bitcoin without touching crypto wallets or exchanges. BlackRock's fund (IBIT) alone now holds more than $80 billion worth of BTC.
Washington Cleared the Way
But it wasn't just the money pouring in. Policy momentum has finally turned in Bitcoin's favor. In July, Washington held what's now being called 'Crypto Week' — a slate of pro-crypto legislation that included clearer rules, protections for digital asset investors, and a much-needed signal from lawmakers: crypto isn't going away. That rare bipartisan alignment gave institutions the green light to step in more aggressively.
Trump Helped Bitcoin's Ascent
Then there's the broader backdrop. The Trump administration has leaned crypto-friendly, the dollar has been weakening, and many investors are looking for alternatives to centralized finance. Bitcoin, with its hard cap of 21 million coins and borderless design, is looking more attractive. It's become a structural piece of the new financial system.
Bitcoin Behaves Like a Big Tech Stock
And that's probably the most important shift underway. Bitcoin isn't being treated like a fringe asset anymore. It's moving in sync with tech stocks and showing up in institutional portfolios. One study earlier this year found that Bitcoin's correlation with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reached 0.87 — higher than it's ever been. Essentially, Bitcoin is a risk asset being priced in alongside the biggest names in tech.
Bitcoin's Scale Is Massive
Of course, the narrative is about more than just movement. It's about magnitude. Bitcoin's price in 2010 was about ten cents. Fifteen years later, it hit a record high of $122,000. That's a 1.2 million percent return. There's no other asset in modern financial history with a trajectory like that. What started as a cypherpunk experiment is now being compared to Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) in size.
A big reason behind that rise is scarcity. Bitcoin's 21 million supply cap is hard-coded. No CEO, no central bank, no stimulus committee can inflate it. That scarcity mirrors gold; but unlike gold, Bitcoin is digital, transparent and liquid around the clock. It's become a hedge, a reserve, and for many companies, a treasury asset.
And companies are buying. As of this year, more than 265 private and public firms hold Bitcoin, accounting for about 4% of total supply. Bitcoin ETFs, collectively, hold around 6.6%. These are not niche allocations anymore. They're foundational bets on where the financial world is headed.
Bitcoin Could Be Gunning for Apple Next
To do that, it would need to jump another 15%–35%, depending on which company you're measuring against. That would push Bitcoin's market cap toward the $3 trillion range. And based on some of the current momentum, analysts are warming to that possibility. Several institutional forecasts now place Bitcoin above $140,000 by the end of the year, with some pointing toward $180,000–$200,000 if ETF demand holds strong.
That's the bull case. But getting there isn't guaranteed. If ETF inflows slow, or if U.S. policy changes up once again, Bitcoin could lose steam. Its price is still sensitive to interest rate moves and macro conditions. And for all its mainstream progress, the asset remains volatile in both directions.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is sitting at $114,086.66.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
3 reasons gold broke through another fresh record high
Gold continued its record-breaking rally early Friday, briefly rising as high as $3,534 an ounce. Analysts say the main catalyst was a report that gold bars would be subject to tariffs. The precious metal has also gotten a boost from geopolitical tensions and economic concerns. It's a glittering year for gold. The precious metal broke through another record high on Friday, briefly rising to $3,534 before paring its gains. At its peak, gold prices were up 32% from levels at the start of the year — far outstripping the S&P 500's 8% year-to-date gain. Analysts on Wall Street are pointing to three catalysts that drove the latest leg up: 1. Trump's tariffs The US specified that gold bars are subject to tariffs, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing documents it reviewed from the Customs and Border Protection agency. A ruling letter dated July 31 from the agency said that one-kilo and 100-ounce gold bars would be grouped under a customs code that would subject to levies, the outlet said. That means gold bars could be subject to the 39% tariff on goods from Switzerland, which is one of the world's largest producer of gold bars. "The White House intends to issue an executive order in the near future clarifying misinformation about the tariffing of gold bars and other specialty products," a White House official told Business Insider in an email. Markets had previously assumed gold bars would be exempt from reciprocal tariffs, Helen Amos, a commodities analyst at BMO, wrote in a note on Friday. Trump's original Liberation Day announcement included a separate customs code that said "non-monetary gold, unwrought, in the form of bullion and dore" would be exempt from import duties, she noted. "If true, US citizens who tried to hedge the inflation impact of US President Trump's trade taxes by buying gold bars must pay those same taxes on their hedge. The ruling suggests gold imported between 9 April and 7 August was subject to tariff," Paul Donovan, the chief economist at UBS, wrote in a note. 2. Geopolitical tensions Tensions between the US, Russia, and China are fueling gold's rally, according to Samer Hasn, a senior market analyst at Hasn pointed to Trump's attempts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which has involved imposing steep tariffs on some of Russia's top trading partners, like India, and threatening to impose secondary sanctions on Russia if a ceasefire isn't achieved by Friday. China, another of Russia's top trading partners, has also yet to reach a trade deal with the US, despite the looming August 12 deadline before higher tariffs take effect. "As a result, the coming hours and days may play a key role in shaping market dynamics. Should negotiations with China and India falter, and no ceasefire in Ukraine materialize, geopolitical tensions could escalate beyond tariff threats alone. Such an outcome could renew the risk premium on safe-haven assets and most notably gold," Hasn wrote in a note. 3. Concerns about the US economy To top it off, investors have been fretting over the strength of the US economy, which has been flashing key signs of weakness despite robust GDP growth over the second quarter. Most recently, cracks have been appearing in the job market, with the US adding fewer jobs than expected in July. Job growth over the months of May and June, meanwhile, saw a large downward revision, signaling that hiring has been weaker than markets originally thought. That, combined with several inflation metrics ticking higher, has stoked fear among some investors that the US could be headed toward stagflation, a scenario where inflation remains hot and growth slows. That situation is thought to be even worse for policymakers to solve than a typical recession, as high prices prevent the central bank from cutting rates to give the economy a boost. "Even conservative platforms are increasingly voicing concern about long-term consequences and the false sense of optimism some economic figures may convey. Lingering concerns among investors are likely to continue supporting gold as a long-term safe-haven asset and sustain its broader upward momentum," Hasn said. Wall Street forecasters are generally bullish on gold, as uncertainty stemming from Trump's tariffs continues to loom over the US economy. In April, Goldman Sachs lifted its year-end gold forecast to $3,700, implying 6% upside for the precious metal from current levels. Ed Yardeni, a market veteran and the president of Yardeni Research, said he believed gold could climb as high as $4,000 by the end of 2025, implying a 14% increase. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dip buys, stagflation talks, gold tariff scare: Market takeaways
Markets (^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^DJI) snapped back after last week's payroll-driven dip, with major indexes climbing and the Nasdaq hitting a fresh record. Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre goes over the top trading day takeaways: last week's dip being bought, the continued conversation around stagflation, and a brief gold scare that rattled traders. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend. US stocks closed out the week on a high note with the NASDAQ setting another record close. Let's get to it with Yahoo Finances Jared Blickery for the top trading day takeaways. Jared, what do you got first? That dip was bought. And what dip am I talking about? I'm talking about the one from last Friday. It was one week ago that I was standing here next to the other Josh and we're talking about, it was kind of a scary day. Yes. So let me just show you the S&P 500. I think we're going to start out with a five day. Let's move this to a 10 day so we can see that. So that's when we got that whole payroll scare. And it wasn't that the number itself was that bad, although it was below expectations. It was the revisions. And we've been talking about that a lot this week. So it looked like things were kind of bad, but look, that was bought. It was only a three and a half percent dip or something like that from those record highs. And we are right back up. The S&P 500 by the way, today missed a record high by just less than one point. It was really close. And then here is the five-day price action in the in the market in the sectors. So consumer discretionary is first, then tech, and then interestingly, we were just talking about this consumer staples. And you don't usually see the those two consumer sectors right at the top because staples is more defensive. Nevertheless, that's what we got this week. So we're going to count one for the bulls and the green. I just wanted to highlight too, something else kind of random that not so random, but I think this talks as to the cyclicality and the bullishness right now. Semiconductors did very well. And you take a, I don't think we have time for this, but you take a look at some of the semiconductor indices, they are right around their all-time highs and they're just kind of trying to break out, but they haven't. Contrast that with the software, and we see a lot of red here, but software isn't the leading indicator that uh semiconductors are. So that's where I'm going to kind of be focusing. So, so Sammies would lead, and then software sort of follows, is that? Yeah, because of the recurring revenue software has turned into a more of a staples play almost of the tech industry. If that makes any sense. And and you brought up, Jared, that dip bought. Of course that was off economic fears. When you think forward to the rest of the, we didn't get a lot of data this week. No. Next Tuesday we get CPI, and so this ties into that stagflation. I hear this word bandied about all the time, um in financial news, and we talked with a guest about lowercase S stagflation, not the 70s type. Uh this was Chris Wolfe on Stocks and Translation of Pennington Partners. Let's take a listen. By the way, smallest stagflation gets this more stubborn inflation because it rotates and a little bit weaker growth. And so that's not 70s style, but it's likely to be a conundrum for the Fed, because how far do you want to cut? We're not getting that much growth, and there's so much stimulus coming down the road in the next 18 months that, you know, the opportunity really is to see how that evolves, but I expect the rest of this year to be just like this with slowing growth and persistent inflation. Yeah, that was really interesting because he talked about inflation rotating. And so you have good sector rotation, uh good sector inflation, then services sector, and he was saying that has kind of the baton has been passed back and forth over the last few years, but we haven't seen it blow out of proportion like we did before. By the way, that episode is out on Yahoo Finance's site, so let's check that out. And and Jared, you, we're talking about inflation, we're talking about perhaps maybe some other things that move when we talk about inflation. What was going on in the in the alt space this week? I like that. I like that transition here. Gold had a little bit of a tariff scare. And I was looking at gold's record high yesterday, and I wasn't seeing a lot of news behind it, but this fell almost kind of under the radar, and it's uh there are a lot of wonky details in this story. Let's see if I can find GC equals. Oh, there we go, 2.4%. I will show you a ten, uh let's do a five-day view so we can see here, we got up to those record highs yesterday, then we fell off today. Apparently, there was uh a letter from the Customs and Border Patrol that indicated that gold, especially out of Switzerland, and this is uh worldwide, was going to be taxed if it had a stamp on it. And so the Swiss gold that comes to the United States that is used by the COMEX exchange in certain denominations, that was going to be taxed, or tariffed. But as it turns out, it looks like there's news that President Trump is going to somehow provide an exception for that. So we got the roll back there. Nevertheless, gold still hovering around $3,500 per ounce, still around that record high. So that just tells you the strength of the underlying market, regardless of all this tariff. My gold fun fact, Jared. I saw I saw someone pointing this out this week. Look at the year-to-date move, 30%, depending on what we consider an asset class. It's certainly outperforming stocks and it's one of the top asset classes this year. Hey, gold is one of the most hated asset classes ever by a lot of institutional investors. Nevertheless, you cannot argue with price. Only price pays, uh says some famous day traders. We'll be watching that uptrend in gold for sure, Jared. All right, that's going to do it for us here. Appreciate you joining us. Related Videos Why many strategists think the market rally will continue Barings' Burton on Tight Credit Spreads Patel and Catrambone's Outlook for the Fed Nasdaq closes 200 points higher, notches new record Sign in to access your portfolio
Chicago Tribune
19 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
A look at colleges with federal money targeted by the Trump administration
Several elite U.S. colleges have made deals with President Donald Trump's administration, offering concessions to his political agenda and financial payments to restore federal money that had been withheld. Ivy League schools Columbia, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania reached agreements to resolve federal investigations. The Republican administration is pressing for more, citing the deal it negotiated with Columbia as a 'road map' for other colleges. There is a freeze on billions of dollars of research money for other colleges including Harvard, which has been negotiating with the White House even as it fights in court over the lost grants. And on Friday, a White House official said the Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the the University of California, Los Angeles. Like no other president, Trump has used the government's control over federal research funding to push for changes in higher education, decrying elite colleges as places of extreme liberal ideology and antisemitism. Here's a look at universities pressured by the administration's funding cuts. Columbia said on July 23 that it had agreed to a $200 million fine to restore federal funding. The school was threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in grants canceled earlier this year. The administration pulled the money because of what it described as Columbia's failure to address antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war. Columbia agreed to administration demands such as overhauling its student disciplinary process and applying a federally backed definition of antisemitism to teaching and a disciplinary committee investigating students critical of Israel. Federal officials said the fine will go to the Treasury Department and cannot be spent until Congress appropriates it. Columbia also agreed to pay $21 million into a compensation fund for employees who may have faced antisemitism. The deal includes a clause that Columbia says preserves its independence, putting in writing that the government does not have the authority to dictate 'hiring, admission decisions, or the content of academic speech.' An agreement last month calls for Brown to pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development organizations. That would restore dozens of lost federal research grants and end investigations into allegations of antisemitism and racial bias in Brown admissions. Among other concessions, Brown agreed to adopt the government's definition of 'male' and 'female' and remove any consideration of race from the admissions process. Like the settlement with Columbia, Brown's does not include a finding of wrongdoing. It includes a provision saying the government does not have authority to dictate Brown's curriculum or 'the content of academic speech.' The Trump administration suspended $584 million in federal grants to UCLA, the university said this week, after the Department of Justice said the college had violated civil rights 'by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.' On Friday, a White House official said the Trump administration was seeking a $1 billion settlement from the university. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the request and spoke on the condition of anonymity. UCLA is the first public university to have its federal grants targeted by the administration over alleged civil rights violations. Under a July agreement resolving a federal civil rights case, Penn modified three school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes 'disadvantaged' by Thomas' participation on the women's swimming team. The Education Department investigated Penn as part of the administration's broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls and women's sports. As part of the case, the administration had suspended $175 million in funding to Penn. The administration has frozen more than $2.6 billion in research grants to Harvard, accusing the nation's oldest and wealthiest university of allowing antisemitism to flourish. Harvard has pushed back with several lawsuits. In negotiations for a possible settlement, the administration is seeking for Harvard to pay an amount far higher than Columbia. The White House announced in April that it froze more than $1 billion of Cornell's federal funding as it investigated allegations of civil rights violations. The Ivy League school was among a group of more than 60 universities that received a letter from the Education Department on March 10 urging them to take steps to protect Jewish students or else face 'potential enforcement actions.' Like Cornell, Northwestern saw a halt in some of its federal funding in April. The amount was about $790 million, according to the administration. The administration this week froze $108 million in federal money for Duke. The hold on funding from the National Institutes of Health came days after the departments of Health and Human Services and Education sent a joint letter alleging racial preferences in Duke's hiring and admissions. Dozens of research grants were suspended at Princeton without a clear rationale, according to an April 1 campus message from the university's president, Christopher Eisgruber. The grants came from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the Pentagon.
