The Real Flippening? Bitcoin Tops PayPal’s Market Cap
The bitcoin price broke $4,000 for the first time over the weekend, and it continued its record-setting run on Monday. The bitcoin market cap soared past $70 billion, initiating an event the cryptocurrency community has been anticipating for years: bitcoin now has a greater total valuation than payment-processing behemoth PayPal.
Record Bitcoin Price Initiates Flippening
The bitcoin price rose another 8% on August 14, briefly spiking past $4,300 before settling down to its present value of $4,276. Monday’s trading raised the bitcoin market cap to a staggering $70.6 billion. According to Yahoo Finance, this makes bitcoin $400 million more valuable than PayPal, whose market cap is $70.2 billion.
Just a few months ago, ethereum backers anticipated the “Flippening”: a moment when ethereum would surpass bitcoin to become the most valuable cryptocurrency. Ethereum was unable to achieve that feat before the market correction in July, and bitcoin increasingly separated itself from the pack. With Monday’s events, it now seems clear that the real Flippening we have been waiting for is not another cryptocurrency topping bitcoin; it is bitcoin surpassing one of the world’s most ubiquitous payment processors.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether bitcoin will hold above its current record levels. The bitcoin price has, after all, doubled in the past month, leading some analysts to question whether or not the market is in a temporary melt-up . In any case, today is a monumental day for cryptocurrency and should earn its place in the history books.
Crypto Market Cap Approaches $140 Billion
Bitcoin continues to carry the total crypto market cap to record levels. Since surpassing its June peak on August 7, the total value of all cryptocurrencies has reached new heights almost daily. At present, the total cryptocurrency market cap is $139.8 billion.
Ethereum Price Continues to Hold at $300
Ethereum’s rally has stalled in recent days, leaving the ethereum price hovering at $300 while bitcoin continued to climb. At present, the ethereum price is $302, a 4% gain over Sunday’s low of $289. Ethereum maintains a market cap of about $28.5 billion.
Altcoin Markets Generally Positive
The altcoin markets were generally positive on Monday, with only two coins in the top 10 declining more than 1%. The Ripple price saw a welcome advance following a disappointing week; it increased by 4% to $0.173. Like ethereum, bitcoin cash continues to hold at about $300, although its market cap is just over $5 billion. The IOTA price led the top 10 with a 16% increase, lifting it to the 5th place spot in the market cap rankings.
The litecoin price declined 1% to about $46, while NEM dipped 3.6% to $0.258 and the 7th-place ranking.
August has been an incredible month for NEO. Just last week, NEO became the 10th cryptocurrency to attain a $1 billion market cap. Since then, its value has more than doubled to $2.3 billion. NEO briefly rose to 5th in total market cap, but it has since settled down to 8th.
Bitcoin Dominant Once Again
On Monday, bitcoin once again claimed a dominant market status, meaning bitcoin accounts for more than half of the total crypto market cap. Bitcoin’s gains came at the expense of nearly every other major cryptocurrency. Ethereum’s share of the market declined to 20.4%, while Ripple’s dropped below 5% for the first time since April. Litecoin–whose percentage of the market had climbed past 2.5% in July–is now just 1.7%.
