Bitcoin markets saw significant action over the weekend, with the cryptocurrency touching another all-time high (ATH) at $28,378 per coin. By the end of 2020, its market capitalization had crossed a staggering half a trillion U.S. dollars, making it larger than Visa and approaching Berkshire Hathaway.
Price Performance and Market Data
At the time of publication, Bitcoin was trading between $27,250 and $27,750 on Sunday morning (EST). Just three days earlier, on December 24, BTC was swapping for $23,796 per unit, representing a gain of over 14% in 72 hours. Data from markets.Bitcoin.com shows that BTC dominance exceeded 70%, with an overall market cap of $510 billion.
Approximately 18,582,450 BTC are in circulation, and the 24-hour global trade volume reached $21 billion. The stablecoin Tether (USDT) remained the dominant trading pair against BTC, capturing 56% of all trades, followed by USD (15.22%), JPY (8.08%), EUR (5.13%), and KRW (3.52%).
Over the past week, BTC was up 16.4%, and 59.12% over the last month. The 90-day gain was 155%, while the 12-month return stood at 272% against the USD.
Mining Profitability and Network Conditions
Using current Bitcoin difficulty and an electricity cost of $0.06 per kWh, the most efficient mining rig—Bitmain Antminer S19 Pro (110 TH/s)—was generating approximately $15.37 per day. Other profitable rigs include the MicroBT Whatsminer M30S++ ($15.18/day), MicroBT Whatsminer M30S+ ($12.69/day), Bitmain Antminer S19 95TH/s ($12.00/day), and Canaan Avalonminer 1246 ($10.38/day).
The Bitcoin network hashrate stood at 136 EH/s, with 18 mining pools actively mining. The top five pools were F2pool (20% of hashrate, 26.32 EH/s), Binance Pool, Antpool, Btc.com, and ViaBTC.
Public Interest and Social Media Buzz
Google Trends data showed the search term “bitcoin” reaching a score of 96 out of 100. On Twitter, the topic was trending with over 225,000 tweets about the crypto asset on Sunday morning. Many users noted that Bitcoin’s market cap had surpassed Visa’s and was steadily closing in on Berkshire Hathaway. One tweet read: “Bitcoin market capitalisation is now over $510 billion. Which puts it just under Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, the 10th largest company in the world.”
The price performance reflects surging interest from both institutional and retail investors as Bitcoin gains recognition as a digital store of value. With the halving earlier in 2020 and increasing adoption, the outlook for Bitcoin remains bullish.