Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $ 40,000 on Jan. 8 as another price consolidation period ended characteristically short.
Cryptocurrency market overview. Source: Coin360
Data from Cointelegraph Markets, Coin360 and TradingView showed that BTC / USD rose rapidly to regain the psychologically significant price level during Friday’s trading.
After falling 9% after running to all-time highs the day before, Bitcoin managed to stay lower for just a few hours before bullish momentum returned. After that, the largest cryptocurrency not only hit its all-time highs, but also delivered a new one – $ 40,087.
BTC / USD 1 Minute Candle Chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView
“Seems like we’re just shaking out our weak hands these days,” summed up a popular social media retailer that day.
Big player market caps fall to BTC
Bitcoin also surpassed the market capitalization of Chinese giant Tencent, briefly overtaking “favorite” tech company Tesla, which rose to $ 41,000 per coin.
Data from CoinMarketCap and Companies Market Cap confirmed that Bitcoin almost made it into the top 5 companies by market capitalization on Jan. 7.
Top companies by market capitalization as of January 8, 2021. Source: Companies Market Cap.
When BTC / USD crossed the $ 40,000 mark, Bitcoin’s market cap soared to unprecedented levels and stood at $ 745 billion. A day later, after a correction, the number fell to $ 737 billion before regaining its previous record.
At the same time, Tesla posted a quick daily gain of 7.3%, once again outperforming Bitcoin after briefly losing its market capitalization capabilities against the cryptocurrency. On Friday, the company was valued at $ 773 billion when Bitcoin again crossed $ 40,000.
Tencent share (orange) vs. BTC / USD chart. Source: TradingView
A more decisive victory, however, came over Chinese tech giant Tencent, which firmly bowed to the momentum of Bitcoin for $ 716 billion. Before that, Tencent was also worth more than Tesla.
As Cointelegraph reported, Tesla had also outperformed stocks and cryptocurrency in 2020, even outperforming Bitcoin from its March lows. A look at Tencent stock growth underscores the slow pace of growth that has characterized other stocks relative to cryptocurrency.
“There are still companies in the world that are worth more than #Bitcoin. Crazy,” said Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini Exchange, commenting on the phenomenon.
