Bitcoin world's fifth-largest currency, beating rupee

According to data from the RBI, the value of the country’s currency in circulation was $271.6 bn. Compared to that, as many as 16,727,450 bitcoins have been mined which put their market cap (m-cap) at $277 bn till 2 pm on Friday, toppling the rupee as the world’s fifth-largest currency; bitcoin’s m-cap had breached the $300 bn on Thursday night, before falling. 

“While it is true that the market cap of bitcoin is more than the total Indian rupees in cash component, it is still in nascent stages and not stable enough to be used for day-to-day transactions,” Unocoin CEO and founder Sathvik Vishwanath said. 

While the rupee’s circulation is limited to India and a few neighbouring countries like Nepal, globally most central banks don’t recognise bitcoin. But the cryptocurrency’s rising value is forcing global central banks to form a view on bitcoin.

* Price in $ on Coinbase; data for Bitcoin is as of Dec 8, 14:00 hrs IST on Coinbase Sources:Central banks/Coinbase/coinmarketcap