According to predictions by Matt Hougan of Bitwise, Bitcoin will reach maturity at $500,000; $1 million is “absolutely” possible as BTC rises to compete with gold.
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, outlined his view of the trajectory for Bitcoin in a blog post-Tuesday in which he posited that with recent price spikes, the digital asset is still in its “early” stages, not until $500,000.
Hougan opened his analysis by noting, “It’s no longer the first inning. But until Bitcoin hits $500K, it’s still early.” He then proceeded to highlight Bitcoin’s recent price milestone-an impressive 100% increase in price this year. Though he acknowledged that price volatility is possible, Hougan sounded optimistic about further growth, remarking: “The market may pull back by the time we publish-it’s come so far, so fast-but $100,000 feels like it could be right around the corner.” He reassured investors they still had plenty of time to get in on the market with hopes of long-term gains.
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In a statement, the executive said that $500,000 represented the “tipping point” for Bitcoin to be considered mature, arguing:
In my view, $500K per coin is the correct demarcation between early and late for a very simple reason: It marks the point where Bitcoin would be ‘mature.’
An opportunity for this can be provided by the potential attainment of status parity with gold in the store-of-value marketplace made possible by Bitcoin. “Once people accept, it will equalize with gold, which has a market size of $18 trillion, while bitcoin is still at just $2 trillion,” Hougan says.
“So why $500K?” Hougan asked, explaining: “Today gold is an $18 trillion market, and Bitcoin is roughly $2 trillion. That puts the store of value market at roughly $20 trillion. A mature Bitcoin would at a minimum share this market equally with gold.”
According to him, there are some 20 million Bitcoins in circulation, and over the course of the next hundred years, another million are going to be issued. “When it reaches $500,000 a coin, it’ll be roughly half the store-of-value market, like gold’s share, so until then, it’s still early.
Hougan also foresaw higher altitudes after this point was reached when he said: “But finally, I think we will go higher. My $500K target is based on bitcoin eating into gold’s market share, when, in reality, I think it will actually grow the overall market.” He also advised that the market could expand simply because the governments will continue raising debt and issuing currency to inflate its value upon stores like Bitcoin. That being the case:
Could we possibly see $1 million Bitcoin? Higher? Absolutely. But $500K feels like a good start.
His comments reflect a belief in Bitcoin’s transformative potential as institutional and governmental interest in cryptocurrency continues rising, influencing Bitcoin price prediction, with indicators suggesting that a mature, stable role for Bitcoin in the global economy is on the horizon.
