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Institutional adoption of Bitcoin is growing at a record pace, leading to a $1.2 million price target.
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Some investors view Bitcoin as digital gold due to its ability to act as a long-term store of value.
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The popularity of stablecoins could pose a risk to Bitcoin’s growth prospects over time.
Back in January 2022, Cathie Wood of Ark Invest first popularized the notion of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) soaring to a price of $1 million or higher by the year 2030. Since then, she’s made several updates to that price target. Most recently, she updated that price target to $1.2 million.
Given Bitcoin’s current price of $103,000, a future price of $1.2 million represents a staggering return on investment of almost 1,100% within a relatively short period of time. So does Bitcoin have what it takes to break through the $1 million price level?
One key driver for Bitcoin, Wood says, is the rate of institutional adoption. Quite simply, banks, financial institutions, and key fintech players are embracing Bitcoin at a rapid pace.
They are developing new products for Bitcoin, such as the new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that launched in January 2024, finding new use cases for Bitcoin as a potentially disruptive financial technology, and acknowledging that Bitcoin is a stand-alone asset class worthy of inclusion in any truly diversified portfolio.
As Wood recently pointed out in a CNBC interview, “Bitcoin is a technology, a global monetary system, and a new asset class all wrapped in one.” And, for that, investors have been willing to pay a hefty price tag.
For a growing number of investors, Bitcoin also plays an important role as a potential store of value. In the past, if investors were concerned about inflation eroding the value of their assets, they bought gold. Today, they buy Bitcoin, which has acquired the moniker digital gold.
In building out her firm’s valuation model for Bitcoin, Wood has taken into account the growing use case of Bitcoin as digital gold by investors around the world. In a bull case scenario for Bitcoin, says Wood, it could be worth as much as 50% of the total market cap of gold.
Given that the total market cap of gold today is close to $28 trillion, that implies a minimum valuation of $14 trillion for Bitcoin within the next five years. That’s approximately 7 times Bitcoin’s current $2 trillion market cap.
Of course, just keep in mind that the argument that Bitcoin is digital gold is very much in question these days. If Bitcoin is digital gold, shouldn’t it be more closely tracking the price of physical gold? That simply hasn’t been the case in 2025. For the year, gold is up about 50%, while Bitcoin is only up 11%.
While a lofty price tag of $1.2 million is certainly impressive, it’s actually a slight discount from where Wood earlier predicted Bitcoin might be headed. The previous price target was $1.5 million, but Wood recently suggested that stablecoins — cryptocurrencies pegged 1-to-1 to the value of a commodity or currency like the U.S. dollar — are taking over some of the roles that Bitcoin used to play, especially in emerging markets.
Quite simply, stablecoins are being used as digital dollars for payments, online transactions, and remittances in many parts of the world. That eats into the role that many originally envisioned for Bitcoin, which was launched as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Although Bitcoin has been embraced as a form of payment in some parts of the world, it’s still relatively rare to use it to pay for anything these days in the U.S. When was the last time you used Bitcoin to pay for a cup of coffee at your favorite cafe?
Yet, it’s getting hard to ignore the chorus of voices now arguing that Bitcoin is headed for a price of $1 million soon. It’s not just crypto industry insiders, either, who are predicting a $1 million price tag for Bitcoin. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Washington, D.C., political figures are now bandying about a price of $1 million for Bitcoin.
Just keep in mind, though, that the trajectory of Bitcoin has never been straight up. Yes, Bitcoin has grown exponentially over the past decade to hit a vertigo-inducing price of $103,000 today, but there have been numerous plunges and market reversals along the way.
So, if you are thinking about buying Bitcoin now, keep your focus on the long term. As Wood has documented in the past, Bitcoin continues to outperform every major asset class over a long enough period of time. But you need to be prepared to buy and hold Bitcoin for the long haul.
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
1 Top Cryptocurrency to Buy Before It Soars 1,100%, According to Cathie Wood of Ark Invest was originally published by The Motley Fool