Bitcoin could be headed to $1 million by 2030, but only if it continues to gain in global adoption.
For more than a decade, tech billionaire Jack Dorsey has been an enthusiastic supporter of Bitcoin (BTC 1.63%). In 2012, Dorsey famously endorsed Bitcoin as “amazing” when it was trading for just $11. That was long before Bitcoin ever made it onto the radar of top Wall Street investors. Since then, Bitcoin has skyrocketed in value and now trades for $70,000.
What Dorsey sees happening next with Bitcoin is nothing short of jaw-dropping. According to a May 2024 post on The Daily Hodl referencing an interview with another site, Dorsey said that Bitcoin could rise to at least $1 million by 2030. That would be about 1,400% over the next five years.
The path to $1 million for Bitcoin
According to Dorsey, there are two key reasons why a $1 million price prediction makes sense. The first is purely technological and is based on Bitcoin’s potential for innovation. Quite simply, the creation of a completely decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency outside the control of sovereign nations and central banks is a stunning technological achievement.
Image source: Getty Images.
When you add in the fact that Bitcoin has a unique algorithm that carefully controls the pace of new Bitcoin creation, this achievement is even more impressive. Bitcoin has an inherent scarcity that fiat currencies issued by central banks simply do not have. This is the reason why Dorsey, as the CEO of fintech company Block (NYSE: SQ), is now attempting to bring new Bitcoin innovations to market.
In May, Dorsey suggested that Bitcoin has the potential to play a much larger role in the global financial system and gave his $1 million price prediction in an interview with Pirate Wires.
There are signs of spreading adoption. Already, several emerging markets around the world have embraced Bitcoin, and bigger things could be coming to developed markets as soon as new pro-crypto legislation is approved. In Europe, for example, the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation goes into full effect in December. And there are signs that the U.S. Congress could finally be ready to pass comprehensive crypto legislation in 2025.
In July, Dorsey took things one step further by suggesting that Bitcoin could eventually replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency. This is something that Bitcoin enthusiasts have been predicting for years. As they see it, the current U.S. dollar-based financial system is a house of cards that’s propped up by $35 trillion in U.S. government debt. When the house of cards eventually comes tumbling down, they believe, that’s when the world will turn to Bitcoin or some other alternative currency.
The case against Bitcoin
For some investors, the idea of Bitcoin supplanting the U.S. dollar might sound fanciful. And, indeed, many top investors still cling to the notion that Bitcoin is either a Ponzi scheme or a digital currency only used by criminals for nefarious activities. In April, for example, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon referred to Bitcoin as a “decentralized Ponzi scheme” and a “fraud.”
In mid-October, the European Central Bank (ECB) released a scathing paper on Bitcoin. As the ECB sees it, Bitcoin fosters a unique form of financial exploitation in which longer-term Bitcoin investors profit at the expense of newer Bitcoin investors. Longer-term Bitcoin investors have an incentive to talk about how great Bitcoin is simply to lure in new investors who are forced to buy Bitcoin at a much higher price. That’s the only way older Bitcoin investors get paid. The European Central Bank refrained from calling Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme, but that’s exactly what it sounds like, right?
Of course, Bitcoin supporters hit back hard as soon as the ECB paper was released. As they see it, the paper is nothing less than a last-ditch attempt to sully the reputation of Bitcoin so that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) can be introduced instead. They argue that the modern central banking system that has existed for more than a century is on the way out, and that Bitcoin is the heir apparent.
Is Bitcoin a buy now?
Before you decide to buy Bitcoin, you need to understand both the pro-Bitcoin and the anti-Bitcoin arguments. From my perspective, the pro-Bitcoin arguments are much more compelling. A modern digital economy requires a modern digital currency, and Bitcoin is the best possible option right now.
The time to load up on Bitcoin is now, while it’s still trading for just $70,000. Yes, that price does induce a fair amount of sticker shock. But it could end up being a huge bargain if Bitcoin is on a path to $1 million, as Jack Dorsey suggests.
JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Block, and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.