The year 2020 will go down in history for a number of reasons.
While the pandemic took center stage, the emergence of Bitcoin, stimulus money, and unprecedented fiat money printing were economically critical issues.
The inflating effect of national currencies being printed to offset the impact of the pandemic led to an exponential expansion of the global M1 money supply. Despite this, Bitcoin Future rank in the overall M1 money supply has risen significantly – from 34th to 13th behind Taiwan, Switzerland and Canada.
But why is this number so important to the future of the very first cryptocurrency?
Bitcoin’s unprecedented rise
Out of the destruction of past pandemics and economic collapses have come some of the greatest changes known to mankind. Often, these major life events bring about the emergence of technologies that change the world forever.
The same thing could happen in 2020: The world seems to have woken up to the fact that governments are mishandling monetary policy – while also realizing that Bitcoin is the hardest form of money yet.
Each new round of stimulus money has sent the M1 money supply soaring around the world. In the U.S. alone, the M1 money supply has increased from 4 trillion to nearly 7 trillion in 2020.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization grew by $400 billion in 2020 alone
The M1 money supply reflects all currencies and coins in circulation, as well as all overnight deposits. The U.S. tops the list as its dollar remains the global reserve currency, but that Bitcoin jumped a total of 21 ranks in 2020 alone – even as other countries also print money – shows that the cryptocurrency will soon be hot on the heels of the greenback.
Bitcoin is now ahead of the Netherlands, India and Sweden – and close behind Taiwan, Switzerland and Canada. The Dutch guilder was also once a global reserve currency, but fell out of favor as new superpowers emerged.
The U.S. dollar is at its weakest point yet, thanks to the pandemic, and that could lead to the currency being dethroned in the future. Until then, it’s an arms race in which Bitcoin has a real chance of winning, going up against China, the U.S. itself, and the rest of the global fiat world.
Much of the recent talk about Bitcoin has been about its market capitalization and how it compares to VISA and banks. But instead, crypto enthusiasts should be comparing Bitcoin much more to national currencies.