It took bitcoin 10-plus years to reach $20,000, but then just another 3 plus weeks to double again to $40,000. Experts think the bull run is due in large part to increasing institutional investment in digital currency from established firms such as PayPal PYPL and Ruffer Investment Management, which purchased around $745 million in bitcoin in November. In an interview with CNBC, Social Capital’s Chamath Palihapitiya said bitcoin is “probably going to $100,000, then $150,000, then $200,000. In what period? I do not know. [Maybe] five or even ten years, but it’s going there.”
Ether, the cryptocurrency of the Ethereum network, is presently worth more than $140 billion, while Bitcoin has a total market cap of around $750 billion. Then there is a long list of less valuable cryptocurrencies, including Tether at $22 billion, Litecoin at eleven billion, and Bitcoin Cash at $8 billion.
Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is thought to own around one million bitcoins. Most of these were mined in the first 2 years of Bitcoin’s existence when there was little competition. If he still has copies of the private keys that control these coins, that would give him a net worth of nearly $forty billion – enough to make him among the fourthy wealthiest people on the planet. Nakamoto has never publicly revealed his true identity and hasn’t communicated publicly since 2014.
If the past year has proven anything, it’s that cryptocurrencies have a lot more long lasting power than the naysayers thought. And that a list of the best cryptocurrencies to invest in is most certainly a worthwhile endeavor.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, brothers who became famous for their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over the origins of Facebook, are also major holders of bitcoins. At the peak of the last bitcoin boom in 2017, the Winklevoss brothers had $1.3 billion in bitcoin, according to The New York Times. That same bitcoin hoard would be worth $2.6 billion today.
Bitcoin may be the currency that has most benefited from the recent surge in interest, but other virtual currencies have also seen their value rise as well. By the end of trading on Thursday, Ethereum, which is used by the Ethereum network, was valued at $140 billion Meanwhile, other notable currencies aren’t doing too shabby either. Tether is now worth $22 billion, Litecoin sits at $11 billion, and Bitcoin Cash checks in at $8 billion.