Bitcoin has overtaken Tesla in global market capitalization, a milestone that underscores the cryptocurrency’s recovery and the growing weight of institutional demand through spot exchange-traded funds.
Data from 8MarketCap showed Bitcoin’s market cap at roughly $1.617 trillion as of May 10, edging past Tesla’s $1.608 trillion. The crossover first appeared on May 8, when Bitcoin climbed above Tesla in the rankings. The gap between the two assets remains narrow, and given the volatility of both, the positions could easily reverse.
ETF Inflows Fuel the Rally
The flip arrived on the back of a sustained wave of money entering U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. April 2026 closed as the strongest month for net inflows since October 2025, pulling in $2.44 billion and nearly doubling March’s $1.32 billion. The momentum carried into May: on May 1, a single-day haul of roughly $629 million marked one of the largest daily prints of the year, and the funds logged nine consecutive days of positive flows totaling about $2.7 billion through early May.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s FBTC dominated the inflows, with a combined session on May 4 drawing $532 million alone. Total cumulative inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs since their January 2024 launch now exceed $60 billion. The streak broke in the second week of May, when funds recorded a $268 million net outflow on May 7, led by FBTC and iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Tesla’s Own Bitcoin Stash
In an ironic twist, Tesla itself remains a holder of the asset that just overtook it. The company disclosed in its first-quarter 2026 earnings report on April 22 that it continues to hold 11,509 BTC, a position unchanged since early 2025. At current prices near the low $80,000 range, that stash is worth roughly $933 million, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. Tesla recorded a $173 million impairment loss on its digital assets during the quarter as Bitcoin’s price fell from about $90,000 at the start of the year to around $68,000 by the end of March.
The company originally purchased 43,200 BTC in February 2021 for approximately $1.5 billion before selling about three-quarters of that position in mid-2022. It has not bought or sold any Bitcoin since a small addition in January 2025.
