Bitwise CIO: Bitcoin Could Reach $1 Million Long-Term, Potential Comes from "Digital Gold" Positioning

Odaily News Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that the price of Bitcoin could potentially reach $1 million per coin in the future. He believes that when viewed from the perspective of the global "Store of Value" market, Bitcoin's long-term potential becomes clearer, as it is gradually competing with gold for the position of a digital store of value asset.

In a recent memo titled "How Bitcoin Gets to $1 Million," Hougan pointed out that the current global store of value market is approximately $38 trillion, with about $36 trillion coming from gold and Bitcoin at around $1.4 trillion, accounting for less than 4% of this market.

Hougan believes that many investors underestimate Bitcoin's potential because they overlook the growth rate of the store of value market itself. For example, when the first U.S. gold ETF was launched in 2004, the global gold market was only about $2.5 trillion; today, it is close to $40 trillion, with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 13%. This growth has been primarily driven by increasing government debt, geopolitical uncertainty, and loose monetary policies.

If the store of value market continues to expand at a similar pace over the next decade, its size could reach approximately $121 trillion. In this scenario, Bitcoin would only need to capture about 17% of the market share for its price to potentially reach $1 million.

Hougan also noted that developments in the crypto market in recent years have laid the groundwork for this outlook. For instance, a few years ago, there were no spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., whereas today, spot Bitcoin ETFs have become one of the fastest-growing ETF products in history. Meanwhile, institutional investors, including the Harvard University endowment fund and the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, have also begun allocating to Bitcoin.