Many of the most prominent crypto figures have made predictions about the future of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Here we take a brief look at the biggest bulls and the biggest bears of the blockchain industry.
Top Crypto Predictions2023
1. Cathie Wood: “Bitcoin to $1,000,000 by 2030”
ARK Invest’s founder and CEO Cathie Wood is one of the most famous bulls in the crypto industry. In early 2022 she made an official prediction that Bitcoin would hit$1 million in price per Bitcoin by 2030. Wood then stood by her prediction in November of 2022 despite the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, which she called “a battle test” for the crypto industry, saying “Bitcoin is coming out of this smelling like a rose.”
Cathie Wood has previously predicted a$500,000 price for Bitcoin by 2026.
2. Warren Buffet: “I will never own cryptocurrency”
Legendary investor Warren Buffett is unimpressed by the prospect of cryptocurrency. He has previously called it “rat poison” and said he wouldn’t buy “all of the Bitcoin in the world for $25”. As a value investor, Buffett invests in businesses and assets that produce value over time. Cryptocurrencies, in his view, do not produce anything and therefore their prices are purely based on speculation.
Buffett’s business partner and famed investor Charlie Munger is equally hostile to cryptocurrency. Munger had this to say about crypto: “In my life, I try and avoid things that are stupid and evil and make me look bad in comparison to somebody else – and Bitcoin does all three.”
3. Michael Saylor: “Bitcoin could hit $500,000 sometime in the next decade”
The co-founder and executive chairman of technology company MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, this year once again made headlines with his bold Bitcoin predictions. In September of 2022, the crypto bull said he expects Bitcoin to return to its previous all-time highs of$69,000 within four years. According to Saylor, Bitcoin could even hit$500,000 per coin sometime in the next decade. He also said, “The next logical stop for Bitcoin is to replace gold as a non-sovereign store of value asset.”
Saylor oversaw MicroStrategy’s purchase of130,000 Bitcoins during 2020 and 2021. Along with Cathie Wood, Saylor is probably the most well-known crypto bull in the space. MicroStrategy is currently working on building enterprise technology that allows businesses to send and receive Bitcoin more easily.
4. Peter Schiff: “A permanent move down to zero is inevitable”
Peter Schiff is a long-time stock market investor and the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. He is most notable for his bullish stance on gold as a store of value and his scathing critiques of crypto. While his predictions of gold reaching$5,000 have yet to materialize, his bearish rhetoric on crypto has a better track record.
Schiff has capitalized on the bear market of 2022, taking the opportunity to predict an end for all of crypto. In November of 2022, he tweeted: “This is not a #crypto winter. That implies spring is coming. This is also not a crypto ice age, as even that came to an end after a couple of million years. This is crypto extinction.” In 2021, at the height of the Bitcoin bull market, Schiff tweeted: “While a temporary move up to $100K is possible, a permanent move down to zero is inevitable.”
5. Mark Cuban: “I can see an unlimited number of applications that will change the biz/consumer world forever”
Dallas Mavericks owner and "Shark Tank" star, Mark Cuban is a famous crypto proponent. Unlike many other investors who focus purely on the monetary value of cryptocurrencies, Cuban is interested in the use cases of protocols like Ethereum. Cuban made his fortune in the early internet days and he has called the Ethereum smart contract technology (which enables DeFi and NFTs) a game-changer on the scale of the internet itself.
According to the famous investor, his portfolio is90% Bitcoin and Ethereum. His view of Bitcoin is that it has “zero competition as a store of value”. He calls Bitcoin “the more conservative crypto play”.
6. Michael Burry: “Mother of all crashes”
Michael J. Burry is an investor who is known for correctly predicting the 2008 housing crash. His gripping story is immortalized in the film “The Big Short”. Burry is famous for his dire warnings and crash predictions — so much so that his Twitter nickname, “Cassandra B.C.'', is named after Cassandra, the figure from Greek mythology who is doomed to correctly prophesize the future while no one believes her.
In 2021, Burry took to Twitter to predict an upcoming “mother of all crashes” for crypto, citing over-leverage as his primary concern for the crypto markets. If his prediction comes true, “losses will approach the size of countries”. Burry has since deleted these tweets, but he has shorted Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF, meaning his bearish outlook remains.
7. Vitalik Buterin: “Cryptocurrencies will settle down and be only about as volatile as gold or the stock market”
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin is a legendary figure in the crypto space. While he’s highly cautious about making predictions about crypto (especially price predictions), there are a few insights we can glean from his comments over the years.
In a 2022 interview with independent journalist Noah Smith, Vitalik outlined his vision of declining price volatility for cryptocurrencies. In the past, his thinking goes, cryptocurrencies have experienced “existential uncertainty”, meaning that investors were worried about whether the cryptocurrencies would even continue existing. This uncertainty has since been mitigated and Vitalik believes it will continue to decrease — leading to greater price stability over time.
Vitalik is also honest about his previous predictions and wrote a tweet thread at the beginning of 2022 in which he reflects on which of his predictions turned out right and which turned out wrong.
8. Changpeng “CZ” Zhao: “It will probably take a while to get back to the all-time-high”
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Binance, is one of the biggest names in crypto. While he hesitates to make price predictions, in an interview with the Guardian he noted that the current bear market could last for a few years before prices get back to their all-time highs.
CZ has been vocal about other crypto companies that spent a lot of money while times were good and had to institute hiring freezes or do layoffs once the bear market settled in. In a famous tweet from June of 2022, CZ patted himself on the back for “saying no to Super Bowl ads, stadium naming rights, large sponsor deals a few months ago” and announced Binance is hiring for2,000 new roles during the bear market.
9. Bill Ackman: “Crypto is here to stay”
Bill Ackman is the billionaire manager of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management. In the past, Ackman has occupied headlines for his large public bets that have sometimes paid off and other times have been massive losses. In terms of his crypto outlook, Ackman tweeted in November of 2022 that he believes “crypto can enable the formation of useful businesses and technologies that heretofore could not be created.”
In his tweetstorm, Ackman praised the decentralized nature of blockchains and the incentive structures that tokens provide. He cited the Helium project’s progress in making a global Wi-Fi network and how traditional telecommunications companies like AT&T would not be able to achieve such a feat. He lamented the fraud and “pump and dump schemes” endemic in the space but expressed optimism for a future in which the space has more regulatory oversight.
10. Elon Musk: “BTC will make it, but might be a long winter”
The notorious CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter has had a long and complicated history with cryptocurrency. While he’s not known to make explicit price predictions, his notoriety means that even the slightest nod toward crypto prices can move markets. In November of 2022, he commented on the state of crypto markets on Twitter, saying “BTC will make it, but might be a long winter.”
Musk has previously swayed the price of Dogecoin, most famously during his appearance on the American comedy show "Saturday Night Live" during which the price of the cryptocurrencyfell by over 30%. The billionaire has also presided over Tesla’s purchase and subsequent sale of over$1 billion of Bitcoin. He has also hinted that his companies will begin to accept cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin as forms of payment in the future.
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To Sum It Up
Crypto price predictions are in no short supply in the crypto industry. While no one can reliably predict the price of cryptocurrencies, there are crypto experts and financial authorities who can give retail traders a better idea of what may lie in store for crypto. It’s important to do your own research, however, and to never invest more than you can bear to lose. Want to keep up with what's happening in the crypto market? Check out our newsletter on crypto (sent to your email daily.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Some predictions from crypto advocates say the total value of the crypto industry may surpass $100 trillion dollars by 2030. Opponents of the cryptocurrency, meanwhile, believe it may all go to $0 by then (or even much earlier.)
Keep an eye on financial publications such as Forbes and Bloomberg to get the most qualified crypto predictions. For the most up-to-date market analysis, follow a few big-name crypto authorities on Twitter.
This is the million-dollar question. Unfortunately, no one can say with certainty what the crypto markets will do tomorrow or a year from now.
When trading crypto, it’s important to do your own research, understand the fundamentals of different crypto technologies, and never invest more money than you would be OK with losing.
