by Vincent Muthee
Silver has overtaken Apple to become the world’s third-largest asset by market capitalization. The flip followed a sharp price rally that pushed spot silver above $71 per ounce, setting a new all-time high.
Silver’s surge follows one of the strongest rallies in silver’s modern history. Year-to-date, silver has gained nearly 150%, leaving equities, crypto, and even gold trailing behind.
Why the Price of Silver Is Rising
Recent reports show that Silver has surpassed Apple (AAPL) to become the third-largest crypto asset in the world by market capitalization. The metal now holds a market cap of about $4.032 trillion, narrowly beating Apple’s $4.031 trillion.
Silver’s surge came as the metal reached an all-time high above $71/oz amid strong industrial demand, with supply failing to keep up. Additionally, the production of solar panels has had a significant influence on the price of Silver since the metal is a very important component in photovoltaic cells.
EVs and luxury electronics manufacturing have also contributed to demand, with no universal replacement that can match the efficiency of Silver components.
The trend has also been strengthened by wider macroeconomic conditions. By steering towards reducing the interest rates, the central banks have kept the real yield decreasing and the cash and bonds unattractive, making Silver the go-to asset.
At the same time, geopolitical tensions and fiscal uncertainty have increased demand for assets perceived as stores of value. Gold has benefited from the same environment. The price of Gold has climbed roughly 70% this year to around $4,450 per ounce, marking a new all-time high.
What Silver’s Breakout Suggests for Bitcoin
Silver’s rise offers important context for the recent Bitcoin price action. As at press time, Bitcoin traded at $87,611.86 level after slipping about 1% over the past 24 hours, reflecting a cooling in short-term risk appetite.
At the moment, investors are preferring low-volatility assets with a long history. However, Silver’s price action does not imply the abandonment of the long-term thesis of Bitcoin. Rather, it underscores investor interests in times of uncertainty.
Once confidence is lost, markets tend to move to physical stores of value before going back to higher-risk assets. This trend has been seen in past cycles. Silver and gold have often dominated during times of uncertainty, whereas Bitcoin has often picked up pace at a later stage as liquidity came to stabilize and expectations made a comeback.
Silver’s rally might also be an indication of more structural issues. Stress in the financial system is usually accompanied by a rapid commodity price increase, tightening of inventories, and robust physical demand. Traders have said that such actions may be a precursor to more macro liquidity or asset allocation changes.
If monetary easing continues and concerns around currency stability persist, Bitcoin could re-enter focus as an alternative store of value with portability and fixed supply.
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