Many industry experts have predicted that Bitcoin (BTC) will eventually hit the $1 million mark. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, Strategy chief Michael Saylor, etc., have all stated that BTC will eventually breach the seven-digit figure. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Matt Hougan, is the latest join the bandwagon, according to a recent publication.
Why Does The Bitwise CIO Believe Bitcoin Will Hit $1 Million?
In the publication, Hougan compares Bitcoin (BTC) to gold, and calls it “an emerging store-of-value asset.” He highlights how BTC allows people to hold wealth beyond the traditional fiat and banking system. Hougan states that Bitcoin “is more volatile and less established than gold, but it is increasingly competing for the same market.“
Hougan notes that the store-of-value market is currently worth just under $38 trillion. Godl makes up a majority of the valuation with about $36 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC), on the other hand, represents under 4% of the market, with a valuation of $1.4 trillion. The Bitwise CIO reminds readers that the gold market was worth $2.5 trillion when the first gold ETF was launched in the US in 2004. The US got its first Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs in 2024, and have “proven to be the fastest-growing ETFs of all time.” Going by the historical pattern, BTC could see massive price surges in the future.
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However, things are not set in stone. Hougan highlights that “the global store-of-value market will not continue to grow as it has for the past 20 years.” The two past decades saw substantial challenges that have propelled the store-of-value market. A global financial crisis, the invention of quantitative easing, and an extended period of low interest rates greatly helped gold’s price surge. Therefore Bitcoin’s (BTC) growth could be slower than gold’s, as such challenges may not arise in the future.