How Much of All Money Is in Bitcoin?

How Much Is Bitcoin Worth?

On April 10, 2024, one bitcoin was worth more than $70,000 (at the time of writing its price was $70,665). There were more than 19.68 million bitcoins circulating, giving it a total value of over $1.39 trillion. This is a stark contrast to its price and market cap one year previous, when there were about 19.35 million bitcoin circulating with a $472 billion market cap.

Bitcoin and the Money Supply

To get a sense of how much of the world's money is in bitcoins, we must determine the total amount of money. As it turns out, this is not the easiest question to answer. Such a calculation might take into account dozens of categories of wealth, including banknotes, precious metals, money market accounts, and debt. Luckily, Credit Suisse has already done the work—the latest calculations from the bank resulted in global wealth being $454.4 trillion at the end of 2022.

Assuming that the total wealth growth rate calculated by the bank remained the same over 2023, total global wealth would be about 469.8 trillion, leaving Bitcoin at about 0.3% of the estimated total value of wealth globally.

Bitcoin vs. Gold

How does Bitcoin compare to gold? After all, some people still consider gold to be the safest of safe haven assets. It is certainly the standard to which other currencies must be compared. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that about 244,000 tons of gold had been discovered. There are 32,000 ounces of gold in one ton, and the price of gold per ounce was about $2,334.90 as of the market close on April 10, 2024. So, the total value of all gold can be estimated as:

( 244,000 tons of gold x 32,000 ounces per ton ) x $2,334.90 per ounce = $18.23 trillion.

In total, the value of all Bitcoin was about 7.6% of the value of all above-ground gold reserves.

Other Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin is the largest and best-known cryptocurrency in the global economy. However, it is far from the only one. If we combine Bitcoin with Litecoin, Monero, Ethereum, and all other cryptocurrencies, the total value comes to roughly $2.6 trillion (on April 10, 2024). That was about 0.56% of the value of all money.

The Bottom Line

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, one of the thousands of new digital or virtual currencies available globally. It can be used as a store of value, a way to exchange value, or as a speculative investment. Its value changes daily, sometimes hundreds of dollars or more, which changes how much global capital is invested in it.

The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed on Investopedia are for informational purposes online. Read our warranty and liability disclaimer for more info. As of the date this article was written, the author does not own bitcoin.