Bitcoin market value exceeds $1 trillion

The trillion-dollar market cap club welcomed a new member today: Bitcoin. The total value of Bitcoin transactions now exceeds $1 trillion.

The price of Bitcoin hit a record high on Friday. According to Coinbase data, the current price of one Bitcoin is about $55,000, with a daily increase of more than 6%. The price of Bitcoin has risen by about 360% in the past six months. There are currently about 18.6 million Bitcoins in circulation around the world. (The total number of Bitcoins is capped at 21 million.)

Comparing Bitcoin to a large, highly valued company like Apple isn’t the same type of comparison. But in terms of value, there are only four companies in the U.S. that are worth more than Bitcoin right now: Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Google owner Alphabet (GOOGL).

Bitcoin is currently roughly $200 billion ahead of Tesla (TSLA) at $700 billion, and Tesla’s purchases are the primary reason for the recent surge in Bitcoin’s price.

The electric car giant led by Elon Musk announced earlier this month that it now has $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin in the company's cash reserves. Tesla also said it is considering letting consumers use Bitcoin to purchase Tesla vehicles. This has sparked speculation that other large companies may soon add Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets, as Bitcoin generates returns that are much higher than bonds and cash in the current market.

The move is driven in part by increased adoption of bitcoin by major investors and companies, with Bank of New York Mellon, the oldest U.S. bank, announcing earlier this month that it would enter the space.

“Bitcoin has started to become so big that it could become a mainstream demand as companies and institutions start to get involved in areas that were out of reach just a few months ago,” Jim Reid, research strategist at Deutsche Bank, said in a report. “Increasing institutional support is turning itself into a reliable asset class for many.”

Pro-bitcoin investors and entrepreneurs celebrated the milestone on social media.

"From white paper to $1 trillion. Bitcoin is eating gold," Gemini exchange CEO Cameron Winklevoss said on Twitter.

To be sure, not everyone on Wall Street is convinced about Bitcoin’s future prospects. Citadel Securities founder Ken Griffin said on Friday that he is not interested in cryptocurrencies, while researchers at JPMorgan said Bitcoin’s rally is unsustainable.