It may seem like something out of a fever dream: Amazon, a business built by Jeff Bezos from humble beginnings, selling books online, has been surpassed by an asset once written off as a fad. Amazon quickly expanded to selling all array of products, setting up fulfilment centres, venturing into web services, and even getting back to their roots with Audible and Kindle. You are hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t know the name of the e-commerce giant, so it’s perhaps surprising that Bitcoin, a decentralised crypto currency has edged out Amazon in market cap value.
Bitcoin’s Meteoric Rise
Fuelled by institutional investing and ETF (Exchange Traded Funds) inflows, Bitcoin became the sixth-largest asset on April 23, 2025, with a market cap of $1.857 trillion, just above Amazon’s $1.837 trillion. A 6.24% price surge to $93,546, driven by $936 million in daily ETF inflows and investments like Cantor Fitzgerald’s and Softbank’s joint $3 billion Bitcoin fund under new firm 21 Capital, powered this milestone. As of May 9, 2025, Bitcoin’s market cap has risen to $2.054 trillion, maintaining its edge over Amazon’s $2.019 trillion. Bitcoin remains high-performing, with a pro-crypto U.S. administration and global shifts toward decentralisation suggesting further growth, though volatility remains a risk.
The Power of Scarcity
It just goes to underscore the power of a scarcity asset and how scarcity, coupled with blockchain efficiency and an understanding of the collective psychology of how people want to engage with their investments, will ultimately drive institutional interest and in turn create a buoyant market. Bitcoin’s value comes from decades of inflation eroding fiat savings, younger generations’ distrust of traditional financial institutions (33% believe they won’t need a bank in the future, and nearly half are looking to tech startups to overhaul banking), and higher financial literacy through access to information, allowing everyone to amass knowledge and make decisions instead of relying on traditional investment firms.
Institutions don’t lead, they follow. Rises like these don’t come from institutions wanting to be a step ahead but from individuals seeking greater autonomy over their finances and savvy smaller outfits like Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy seeing an opportunity to disrupt the market. This psychology of adoption leads institutions to a turning point where they can no longer hold out and have to embrace the new reality, driving up value as their deep pockets and demand push up the market price. The net winners are individuals and businesses who saw an opportunity to HODL and be disruptors, while institutions make returns by creating confidence that draws retail investors, creating a virtuous upward spiral where adoption feeds value and value feeds adoption.
Amazon’s Path to Edging Ahead
As for Amazon, a return to manufacturing in the U.S. and a change of mentality in consumers from quantity to quality will no doubt bounce their market cap to new heights if Trump Administration plans are successful. Over the next 6–8 years, partially reshoring manufacturing by 2030–2033, could push up Amazon’s fulfilment value. Fulfilment, including Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), currently contributes $396–$594 billion (20–30%) to Amazon’s market cap. By 2033, fulfilment revenue could hit new heights, driven by higher fees from premium goods, automation lifting margins and onshoring manufacturing.
Amazon’s total revenue in 2024 was $638 billion, with AWS contributing $107.6 billion. The business is largely pandemic-exempt due to its essential role in society, Amazon’s market cap could jump substantially. Favourable trade deals and a prosperous U.S. economy (e.g., 3% GDP growth) could lift e-commerce, where Amazon holds a 40% share, this trajectory suggests Amazon could keep pace with Bitcoin’s long-term growth in the longterm if bitcoin grows steadily although this remains speculative.
Amazon’s Apple and Bitcoin’s Bite
Perhaps Amazon will see the writing on the wall and capitalise on their running mate’s momentum, diversifying its treasury into Bitcoin to have their own apple and a bite of their opponent’s too. One famous case is Tesla, whose $1.5 billion Bitcoin treasury HODL in 2021 yielded great returns. Read more about Tesla’s Bitcoin strategy in our MoneyBrain article.
Don’t Panic, Anticipate
The net losers of Bitcoin so far have been the ones who panicked, so in the words of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Don’t Panic!” Bitcoin’s rise past Amazon doesn’t spell doom for the e-commerce giant but signals a world where digital scarcity challenges traditional giants. Amazon’s resilience—fuelled by fulfilment, AWS, and economic tailwinds—positions it to compete, while Bitcoin’s HODLers and disruptors reap rewards. Whether you’re betting on Bitcoin, Amazon, or both, the opportunity lies in understanding adoption, scarcity, and consumer trends shaping the future.