Bitcoin (BTC) pulled off an impressive double-digit rally this year, but the digital asset has been struggling to break the $45,000 resistance lately. This level does not hold any historical importance because it has been easily breached multiple times. The same can be said for Bitcoin's $850 billion capitalization, which isn't anywhere close to silver's $1.4 trillion, or the Amazon and Google's $1.7 trillion market value.
Bitcoin's market cap is often compared to gold, which has a $12.3 trillion total value and is currently the leading global store of value solution. Therefore, the answer to the $45,000 resistance might lay in institutional investors' comparison of BTC versus gold. By looking at institutional investor funds assets under management and daily trading volume, it is possible to infer that Bitcoin's 93% market capitalization discount is justified.
Gold has always been viewed as a proxy for Bitcoin and Cointelegraph previously covered Bitcoin's multiple use cases, but the narrative that it is a digital store of value has always been its flagship feature.
Governments around the globe have implemented tighter financial controls for many reasons, which could reinforce the self-sovereign and decentralized advantages of cryptocurrency. For example, China's social credit system places offenders on a social credit blocklist, which will stop them from securing loans or even using the transportation system.
Most recently, Canada's short-lived Emergencies Act gave financial institutions the discretionary power to freeze protesters' bank accounts with no civil liabilities on Feb. 15. Another example is this week Russians have been sanctioned from payment services like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
These events could make an
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