Evaluating assets based on "Market Cap" is a standard financial analysis technique. This is nothing more than the marginal value of a security (i.e. what it's t

Evaluating assets based on "Market Cap" is a standard financial analysis technique. This is nothing more than the marginal value of a security (i.e. what it's trading for this very moment) times the number of shares. You are right, the article uses sloppy terminology. You are also right that you couldn't actually sell all those bitcoins for $1bm. Nonetheless, this is standard financial language you have to take at face value.