Bitcoin's (BTC +1.70%) price hit an all-time high of $126,210.50 on Oct. 6, 2025, but it now trades at about $90,000. The world's top cryptocurrency pulled back nearly 30% as many investors booked profits, triggering leveraged liquidations. Geopolitical tensions, tariffs, and other macroeconomic headwinds exacerbated that selling pressure.
Nevertheless, Strategy's (MSTR -2.09%) Michael Saylor -- who orchestrated his software company's historic transformation into Bitcoin's most prominent corporate investor over the past five and a half years -- still expects the token's price to soar more than 1,000% to $1,000,000 this year. Let's see if that top Bitcoin maximalist's bold prediction might come true.
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What's the bullish case for Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is mined using the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which requires miners to solve cryptographic puzzles with powerful chips to earn tokens. It was initially mined with CPUs and GPUs, but its mining rewards are cut in half every four years.
These scheduled "halvings" make it harder to mine Bitcoin profitably. Today, miners need powerful application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to produce new tokens.
Bitcoin has a maximum supply of 21 million tokens, and nearly 20 million have already been mined. However, its halvings will delay the last token's mining until 2140. That fixed scarcity makes Bitcoin more comparable to gold, silver, and other finite commodities. Hence, the bulls claimed it could become a hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies.
CRYPTO: BTC
Key Data Points
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Bitcoin in early 2024, which made it easier for retail and institutional investors to gain exposure to the top cryptocurrency without a dedicated crypto wallet. Moreover, the U.S. launched its own Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for seized Bitcoins last March. El Salvador and the Central African Republic also accepted Bitcoin as legal tender for several years.
Those catalysts could transform Bitcoin into "digital gold" over the next few decades. However, Bitcoin's market cap of $1.8 trillion is still tiny compared to gold's $33.1 trillion.
Why does Saylor expect Bitcoin to hit $1 million?
Based on these facts, Bitcoin's price could rise tenfold and still be significantly less valuable than gold. Saylor, along with the industry's other Bitcoin maximalists, expects soaring government debt to drive countries to print more money, diluting the value of their fiat currencies. That monetary expansion will drive more investors toward gold and Bitcoin.
Furthermore, the Trump Administration's recent actions against the Federal Reserve -- including an attempt to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook and a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into Fed chief Jerome Powell -- indicate it wants new leaders for the Fed who favor accelerated interest rate cuts.
Deeper interest rate cuts could stimulate the broader economy, but they'll also weaken the U.S. dollar and possibly drive up inflation again. That shift would probably boost Bitcoin's value.
Over the past 12 months, gold rallied nearly 60% and silver more than doubled as investors braced for the devaluation of the U.S. dollar. Yet Bitcoin's price declined by more than 10% during the same period, as it stumbled alongside the market's more speculative investments.
Therefore, Bitcoin might catch up to gold and silver -- and generate even bigger gains -- by the end of 2026 as those tailwinds kick in. However, I think it's too ambitious to expect it to hit $1,000,000. Since Bitcoin is still broadly classified as a speculative play, it could sink much further than gold or silver during the next market crash. I'm bullish on Bitcoin's long-term growth potential, but I'm bracing for more near-term volatility instead of expecting it to soar 1,000% this year.
