Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and cryptocurrencies all have something, surprisingly, in common: similar market values.
That’s according to news from Reuters, which — citing CoinMarketCap, a website in the industry — reported that all of the cryptocurrencies combined hit a high of around $184 billion in value on Wednesday (Nov. 1), which is in line with the value of both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Cryptocurrency value has a lot to do with the price of bitcoin, which hit another new high this week of $6,500. At the start of the year, the leading cryptocurrency was trading around $1,000. At its new price, bitcoin’s stock commands a market value of $110 billion, representing the lion’s share of the combined $184 billion in value for all the different digital currencies and blockchain-based ledgers, including Ethereum.
The surge in bitcoin this week was tied to news from CME Group that it would launch bitcoin futures in the last quarter of the year. CME is the largest derivative exchange operator in the world. The backing by the company was a sign that bitcoin is on its way to being a legitimate and mainstream alternative currency, which sent it surging.
The increased value of cryptocurrency comes at a time when some on Wall Street are embracing it while others are calling it a fraud. JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, for example, called bitcoin a “fraud” in September, saying, “If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day.” Dimon noted that the blockchain technology that powers bitcoin is real, but that he doesn’t understand the value of digital currencies that aren’t backed by the government.
“Who cares about bitcoin? The world economy is so big,” Dimon said, according to CNBC. He said JPMorgan alone moves around $6 trillion in money every day. That comment came just one day after Dimon said on an earnings conference call that he was no longer going to discuss bitcoin or its stock, as the price of the digital currency hit more than $5,800. It has continued to surge since then.
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