This might come as a surprise for some Bitcoin advocates, but Apple (APPL) has managed to outperform the leading cryptocurrency since the introduction of Bitcoin futures in 2017.

Yet, Blockstream CEO Adam Back, one of the most vocal Bitcoin evangelists, appears to be unfazed by this uncomfortable fact. “Zoom out. And hodl. Nothing outperforms,” he said in a social media post.

In December 2017, CME and CBOE, two major U.S. derivatives exchanges, introduced Bitcoin futures. This was supposed to be a major milestone for Bitcoin’s institutional adoption. This also coincided with the peak of the 2016-2017 bull cycle. In 2018, Bitcoin entered a brutal bear market, erasing most of its value.

Back in 2018, Japanese economist Yukio Noguchi opined that the introduction of Bitcoin futures actually killed the Bitcoin bull run.

Fast-forward to September 2024, the leading cryptocurrency is up 202% since late 2017.

For comparison, the Apple stock was trading at the $42.5 level. It is up 427% over the same period of time.

While Bitcoin’s gains are impressive, they obviously pale in comparison to those recorded by the California-headquartered tech behemoth.

Apple experienced incredible growth due to its successful service sector, the evolution of the iPhone as well as other products such as AirPods and the Apple Watch. Recently, the tech behemoth also made a foray into the VR/AR market with the introduction of Apple Vision Pro.

In June, Apple regained its spot as the world’s most valuable company after being briefly toppled by chip-maker Nvidia earlier this year amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

Apple is also not staying on the sidelines of the AI boom, recently announcing a collaboration with market leader OpenAI.

Can Bitcoin catch up with Apple?

Bitcoin’s performance has been rather disappointing this year. However, some analysts believe that the cryptocurrency could still surge to as high as $150,000 this year.

For now, the cryptocurrency is struggling to regain its momentum due to the absence of an obvious bullish catalyst.