Recently, I decided to investigate how much money is really in the world, and what I found is quite revealing. Most people have no idea about these figures, so here’s what I discovered.

Let’s start with the obvious: physical money—those bills and coins you see in your wallet. Well, there are only about 9 trillion dollars in circulation. It sounds like a lot, but when you see the whole picture, it’s almost nothing.

Now, if we add up everything that’s in bank accounts and deposits, we’re talking about much bigger numbers. The money people have stored in banks is around 100 trillion dollars, and if we include large deposits and investment funds, we reach about 150 trillion dollars. So, how much money is really in the world, considering both physical and digital, is roughly 150 trillion.

But here’s the interesting part: not everything is distributed equally. The United States dominates with nearly 62 trillion dollars, which represents almost half of the global market. Next comes China with approximately 16 trillion, and Japan rounds out the podium with about 6.5 trillion. When you see these numbers, you really understand who runs the world.

There’s something many people don’t understand: the entire global market—stocks, bonds, derivatives, all of that—adds up to more than a quintillion dollars. But that’s not real money; it’s just valuations, numbers on a screen. The tangible money—the money that actually exists—is that approximate 150 trillion I mentioned.

This answers a question some people ask about whether there’s enough money in the world for Bitcoin to keep growing. Spoiler: yes, there is—and a lot of it. The question isn’t whether there’s money, but how it’s redistributed and where it flows. Understanding how much money is in the world is key to seeing the macroeconomic trends that are coming.