Bitcoin’s bigger than Bill Gates, Buffett, Boeing and the Queen

hong kong — Bitcoin’s extraordinary price surge means its market capitalisation now exceeds the annual output of whole economies, and the estimated worth of some of the world’s top billionaires. It’s come a long way from August, when one coin could buy you a hefty supply of avocados. Here are five things that have been eclipsed by bitcoin in terms of market capitalisation:

New Zealand’s GDP

The South Pacific nation’s farm-andtourism-led economy is valued at $185 billion, according to World Bank data as of July, putting it some $5 billion below bitcoin. The cryptocurrency’s market cap is also bigger than the likes of Kuwait and Hungary.

Goldman Sachs, and UBS

Bitcoin’s run-up has even seen it valued more highly than two of the world’s most influential banks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s market cap was $97 billion as of Friday, while Zurich-based UBS Group AG came in at about $67 billion. Add those numbers together and it still falls short of bitcoin.

Boeing

It may make jumbo jets but Boeing’s market cap of $162 billion is also less than that of a digital currency that didn’t exist 10 years ago. The Chicago-based company has got a market value of €66 billion ($78 billion).

Fourteen aircraft carriers

If bitcoin’s market cap could be used to buy military equipment, it would pack a mighty punch. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of a new class of nuclear-powered supercarriers, was delivered to the US Navy in May. It cost an estimated $13 billion, so if investors put all their bitcoins together they would be able to buy a fleet of fourteen ships.

Bill Gates, Buffett and the Queen

They sit atop Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, but even if Bill Gates and Warren Buffett pooled their fortunes they wouldn’t have enough to buy all the bitcoins in circulation. Gates is worth $90 billion and Buffett has $83 billion, according to the index. Not even Queen Elizabeth II could get them over the line if she brought her $383 million to the table. While we don’t know what he told Katy Perry, Buffett has called bitcoin a “real bubble” in the past. — Bloomberg