Bitcoin Briefly Surpasses Google in Market Cap Ranking as Standard Chartered Predicts New All-Time High | US Crypto News

Welcome to the US Morning Crypto News Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.

Grab a coffee to see how Bitcoin (BTC) is faring against public companies, precious metals, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) on metrics of total assets by market capitalization. The pioneer crypto is proving formidable, taking the stage as a tech stock proxy to ‘dynamic hedge’ against equities and US Treasury risk.

Bitcoin Surpassed Google in Market Cap

Amidst renewed optimism, Bitcoin has surpassed Google, effectively joining the top five assets on market cap metrics.

According to data on companiesmarketcap.com, which tracks over 10,436 firms, Bitcoin is now the fifth most valuable asset after GOLD, Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Nvidia (NVDA). As of this writing, it boasts a market cap of $1.86 trillion.

Top assets by market cap. Source: Companiesmarketcap.com

This growth comes as Bitcoin progressively gains attention as a hedge against traditional finance (TradFi) and US Treasury risk, which aligns with the most recent US Crypto News publication. As BeInCrypto reported, experts say Bitcoin’s number one purpose in a portfolio is to hedge against risks to the existing financial system.

In contrast, Gold is losing appeal after recently establishing a new all-time high (ATH). While President Trump’s tariffs catapulted Gold to new heights, there appears to be a capital rotation as investors’ appetite for risk grows.

“Bitcoin has surged past the prior $88,800 technical ceiling, clearing the psychological $90,000 mark to trade at an eye-watering $93,500. Meanwhile, Gold has slid 6 percent, reflecting a renewed appetite for risk and a clear rotation into digital assets,” QCP Capital analysts said.

According to analysts, institutions are no longer testing the waters of crypto. Instead, they are diving in headfirst. Based on this outlook, BeInCrypto contacted Standard Chartered Head of Digital Assets Research Geoff Kendrick, who forecasted a new ATH for Bitcoin price.

Standard Chartered Reiterates Next Bitcoin ATH

According to Kendrick, the increasing 10-year US Treasury term premium, now at a 12-year high, correlates with an increase in Bitcoin price. The term premium is the additional yield investors demand to hold a long-term bond instead of a series of shorter-term bonds.

“While correlations vary over time, the relationship between Bitcoin and the term premium is pretty solid, especially since the start of 2024. This relationship shows that Bitcoin has lagged the term premium increase in recent weeks,” Kendrick told BeInCrypto.

According to the analyst, this lag likely reflects the previous narrative that tariffs are hurting tech stocks and Bitcoin trading, such as Mag7 stocks.

Further, the Standard Chartered head of digital asset research added that as long as Federal Reserve (Fed) independence issues continue to play out, Bitcoin will keep heading higher. Against this backdrop, Kendrick reiterated his end-of-year Bitcoin price target.

“This could be what is needed for the next all-time high, and on that, I reiterate my current forecasts for Bitcoin, of 200k end-2025 and 500k end-2028,” he added.

As Bitcoin acts as a dynamic hedge, it remains to be seen whether it can flip Nvidia this quarter. Nevertheless, Kendrick does not rule it out, acknowledging that dominant narratives change and Bitcoin serves several purposes in portfolios.