Bitcoin Ranked 32nd Global Currency by Physical Money Supply

Jameson Lopp, the lead developer at BitGo, a Blockchain security company, has calculated that Bitcoin would rank 32nd globally for its value in circulation. He created a clone money supply aggregator M1 Index, similar to This puts it ahead of Singapore and South Africa, and just behind Finland and the UAE.

By creating a clone of the global M1 index, a metric for the money supply of a country which includes physical money — both paper and coin — as well as checking accounts, are valued, Lopp calculated that Bitcoin would finish pretty high up.

Valuing the narrow money
In the index, narrow money is used as a metric to determine the value of a currency. The narrow money of a country essentially is every piece of existing currency, taking into account all paper money, as well as coins, and even digital money stored in bank accounts. Liquid assets held by the central bank are also considered.

Using this metric, and the value of Bitcoin in circulation, Lopp comes up with a figure of $122,406,125,890 for Bitcoin - its market cap at the time of calculating. However, with its fluctuations, Bitcoin has reached as high as $125 bln in the last three days alone, which would put it in 31st - above Finland.

Bursting growth
Bitcoin continues to skyrocket with it’s high recently hitting $7,500. This has seen its overall market cap also skyrocket, as well as dominate the cryptocurrency market with over 60 percent domination.

Bitcoin price and its market cap are key determining factors in its overall value, but it is metrics like Lopp’s that start to put into power just how influential and powerful the digital currency is.

Further adoption
Because Bitcoin crosses the boundary between currency and asset, it is difficult to pigeonhole it. However, it's two categories are helping across different lines.

Recently, a decision by CME Group, the world’s largest exchange owner, to introduce Bitcoin futures by the end of the year, helped Bitcoin’s value soar as more traditional investors spotted an opportunity.

However, its liquid nature allows it also to be considered a currency and thus is comparable to other countries and their money.

Magical trillion mark
There are predictions that the cryptocurrency market could cross $1 tln in 2018, and because of the dominance of Bitcoin, a lot of that push will be from the original cryptocurrency.

Additionally, many believe that Bitcoin rapid market cap growth is impressive, going from under $20 bln on Jan. 1 all the way to $201 bln on Nov. 5, but only once $1 tln is reached will it be a major player.

A $1 tln market cap for Bitcoin would rank it comfortably in 8th, ahead of Spain, and just under Italy, the lowest ranked country with $1 tln in narrow money.