Bitcoin Compared To The Largest Fiat Currencies In The World by Market Cap

Fiat Market Cap Measured in Bitcoin

We always measure Bitcoin (BTC) in fiat currency. But have you ever asked yourself how much fiat currency is worth in Bitcoin? You would be surprised by how different the results look.

This page looks at different currencies by market capitalization (also termed market cap, MCAP) and compares them to the current price of Bitcoin. In terms of Bitcoin vs fiat, it should be fiat quoted in Bitcoin and not the other way round! After all, Bitcoin has a limited total supply of 21 million. Fiat currencies have a circulating supply, but it is unlimited. Sometimes, crypto traders joke that fiat currencies have bad tokenomics because there is no hard cap, and they are not decentralized.

For example, take fiat currencies by market cap. 100 dollars are worth more when there are only 100 million of them instead of 100 billion. With fiat, an increasing money supply can lead to devaluation of the currency and hyperinflation. A case in point being the M2 money supply of U.S. dollars due to monetary policies introduced during the global pandemic. Bitcoin cannot have hyperinflation because it is scarce and considered to be a store of value.

Is Bitcoin a Fiat Currency?

No, Bitcoin is not a fiat currency. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency. Fiat currencies are currencies issued by governments like the U.S. dollar, the euro, or the Japanese Yen. Bitcoin has no central government setting its monetary policy. It is the only independent and decentralized currency in the world.

Check out our extensive timeline of Bitcoin history to learn how Bitcoin came about.

If we compare fiat currencies vs cryptocurrency, we have to remember two things:

1. Cryptocurrency needs a fiat on-ramp like an exchange: we cannot buy crypto without fiat.
2. There is also fiat-pegged cryptocurrency: we know this as stablecoin. An algorithmic stablecoin is a variation thereof. It has a peg but no collateral backing it.

What Are the Top Currencies in the World?

The US dollar is considered to be the world’s reserve currency, and is the most widely-used in international transactions, with numerous countries outside the U.S. adopting it as the official or de-facto currency . The Federal Reserve is the most influential central bank in the world. When it adjusts interest rates, the value of other currencies can change.

Other important currencies are the euro, the Japanese Yen, the British pound and the Swiss franc. Some people are convinced that other currencies like the Chinese yuan or the Russian ruble can become influential fiat currencies in the future. However, these countries have more censorship, so their currencies are less independent.

Some countries also plan to introduce CBDCs like a digital dollar in the future, such as Jamaica which officially recognized its CBDC as legal tender. Here is a map of different central bank digital currencies in the world.