A reproducible Bitcoin figure must specify price currency and timestamp, benchmark methodology, and supply denominator. Circulating, total, fully diluted, free-float, and realized capitalization answer different questions.
The base formula is unit price × included units. A price of USD 100,000 per BTC and 20 million BTC gives USD 2 trillion. Units cancel into currency, but the result cannot be more accurate than either input.
Bitcoin trades continuously across venues and pairs. One venue's last trade can differ from a benchmark that filters eligible markets and aggregates transactions. State price source, currency, timestamp, and outage or outlier rules.
Circulating cap uses estimated circulating supply; total or minted cap uses units already created; fully diluted value uses a future maximum or projected supply. Locks, vesting, burns, and issuance powers can create large gaps for tokens.
Bitcoin has no corporate share register. Issuance follows consensus rules, and a full node can verify the UTXO set and its total_amount. The maximum limit and currently spendable stock differ because future subsidies do not yet exist.
The protocol cannot know whether a private key is lost or a dormant UTXO belongs to a patient holder. Standard cap usually marks inaccessible coins at today's price. Lost-supply and free-float estimates are models, not consensus facts.
A small purchase at a higher marginal price reprices every included unit in the formula without the same cash entering the market. Market cap is not deposits, issuer revenue, network net worth, or money waiting to be withdrawn.
Market cap does not reveal how much can be sold without moving price. Order-book depth, spread, volume, venue fragmentation, derivatives, and liquidations determine impact. Equal caps can hide radically different liquidity.
Corporate market cap values equity, not debt, cash, or enterprise value; indices often float-adjust shares. Gold value multiplies price by estimated above-ground stock. Bitcoin is neither a cash-flow claim nor physical metal, so comparisons show scale, not identical economics.
Bitcoin dominance divides Bitcoin cap by the aggregate cap of a selected crypto universe. Results depend on listings, price and supply methods, stablecoins, wrapped or duplicated tokens, and liquidity filters. A change need not represent a direct capital transfer.
Realized cap values each UTXO at the price when it last moved, reducing the weight of old dormant coins; it is not dollars invested or exact holder cost basis. Check formula, price, time, currency, supply, float, lost coins, liquidity, and provider methodology. Sources: Investor.gov — Market Capitalization; CoinMarketCap — Supply Methodology; CF Benchmarks — CME CF Reference Rates Methodology; Bitcoin Developer Reference — gettxoutsetinfo; Bitcoin Core — UTXO statistics implementation; Coin Metrics — Realized Capitalization; World Gold Council — Above-ground Stock; S&P Dow Jones Indices — Index Mathematics.
For the clearest picture, read this entry together with Bitcoin, Lightning liquidity, Volatility, On-chain analysis, Realized capitalization, Realized price. The reverse links also lead from Volatility, Spot Bitcoin ETP, Realized capitalization, MVRV.