World's largest banks lost 3x Bitcoin's market cap during the pandemic

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the world’s 14 largest banks have lost $635.33 billion in market capitalization. This is more than three times the current market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC) and almost double the capitalization of all cryptocurrencies.

Market capitalization of the world’s biggest banks. Source: Buy Shares.

The starting point for this data is December 19. For reference, Bitcoin’s market cap at the time was $130 billion. As the world was entering the pandemic induced recession, six of the banks on the list had a market cap higher than Bitcoin. Currently, only two are bigger — JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.  The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China came close as well, and are currently in a tie with the cryptocurrency.

Banks’ losses during the pandemic. Source: Buy Shares.

However, every single bank on the list has shed billions of dollars off their market capitalization, while Bitcoin has gained $62 billion, or 48%, over the same period.

Bitcoin market capitalization. Source: Glassnode.

As previously reported, the world’s largest pension fund lost an equivalent of Bitcoin’s market cap in a single quarter. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has been gaining unprecedented adoption amongst traditional investors as reflected by the growth of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust. A publicly-traded company recently even made Bitcoin its reserve currency.

Though major banks are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, they seem to be struggling with the redefinition of their value proposition. The negative results they've experienced may have even been caused in part by the recent multi-trillion dollar stimuli from the central banks around the world.