Bitcoin Breaks Through $1 Trillion Market Cap, Institutions Openly Enter the Market — Can BTC Reach $100,000?
Bitcoin price briefly surges to $56,600, total market cap breaks through $1 trillion — the bull run is in full force!
According to OKX data, at 9:00 AM on February 20th, Bitcoin price hit $56,600, a new all-time high, with its total market cap breaking through the $1 trillion barrier to reach $104.88 billion. Fitting the moment, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has been actively engaging with the cryptocurrency world lately, changed his Twitter profile picture to one featuring Bitcoin elements during this rally, and posted two consecutive tweets: "Just for a day" and "I just want to start a flame in your heart" — seemingly lending his support to Bitcoin.
Behind the "Iron Man of Silicon Valley's" show of support for Bitcoin lies the story of Tesla's $1.5 billion purchase of Bitcoin, which generated $1.025 billion in unrealized gains in under two months.
On February 8th, Tesla disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin at an average price of $33,142 per coin. As of 11:30 AM on February 20th, with Bitcoin trading at $55,800 per coin, Tesla's Bitcoin holdings were valued at $2.525 billion, representing unrealized gains of over $1 billion.
The contrast is striking: Tesla's net profit from selling electric vehicles for the entire year of 2020 was only $721 million, yet returns from its Bitcoin investment in less than two months exceeded the company's full-year revenue. The company, known for its "avant-garde philosophy and cutting-edge innovation," also stated that it would soon accept Bitcoin as a payment method for its products.
According to OK Link data, as of February 19, 2021, Tesla had risen to become the second-largest public company globally holding Bitcoin. Worth noting is that MicroStrategy, ranked first in Bitcoin holdings in the table below, has a CEO, Michael Saylor, who can be considered the "guiding light" for Musk's Bitcoin purchase. Saylor had advised Tesla to convert dollars on its balance sheet into Bitcoin.
Currently, MicroStrategy holds 71,079 Bitcoin, worth nearly $4 billion. Assuming a total cost basis of $1.145 billion, its unrealized gains exceed $2.8 billion. Three days ago, MicroStrategy "struck while the iron was hot" by announcing it would raise $900 million through convertible bonds to purchase Bitcoin.
According to Tradingview data, MicroStrategy's stock price has also surged alongside its Bitcoin investment. MSTR's gain over one year reached an astonishing 544.2%, successfully achieving a win-win scenario in both the stock and crypto markets.
As the bull market unfolds, news of institutions like Tesla openly entering the market will only continue to increase. Their participation will also drive Bitcoin's mass adoption, painting an even grander picture for this current "institutional bull market." Unlike previous altcoin bull runs, this bull market is set to reach unprecedented scale. With the increasing regulatory compliance of Bitcoin trading, a large number of traditional financial institutions are accelerating their entry into the cryptocurrency market. The massive capital they bring, along with inter-institutional FOMO sentiment, will further drive Bitcoin's price upward.
Grayscale, which was the first to make the crypto community aware of the "institutional bull," saw its total assets under management break through $42 billion and rise to $42.4 billion as of February 19th (Eastern Time). According to OK Link data, Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust saw a net addition of 1,640 coins over the past 7 days and 13,941 coins over the past 30 days, while its Ethereum Trust saw net additions of 27,480 coins over the past 7 days and 222,958 coins over the past 30 days. On February 20th, Ethereum broke through $2,000 and surged to a high of $2,041, following Bitcoin in setting its own all-time high.
On one hand, Bitcoin is leading a host of cryptocurrencies to continuously set new all-time highs. On the other hand, public companies and traditional capital institutions are accelerating their entry into the market through overt methods. The goal of "BTC to 100K" seems closer than ever as market enthusiasm continues to build.
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