The unexpected election of a pro-bitcoin U.S. president, Donald Trump, has sent the cryptocurrency market into a frenzy of speculation, with bitcoin price predictions ranging from a modest $130,000 to an eye-watering $49 million per coin.
Only three years ago, Trump dismissed the dominant cryptocurrency as a “scam”. Now, his election along with the historic spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals in January and the April halving event, have created a perfect storm for an extremely bullish crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) reached a record high of $108,135 on December 17, according to data from Coingecko.
Trump’s victory on November 5 in particular, has sparked numerous Bitcoin (BTC) price predictions for 2025, with forecasts varying from $130,000 to $49 million per bitcoin by 2045.
Bitcoin peaked at approximately $44,000 in 2023 before skyrocketing to just over $108,000 earlier this month – a 145% increase in price. If 2025 produces similar returns, we can expect a price of roughly $265,000. Thus, predictions lower than that benchmark could be seen as more conservative estimates.
Digital asset manager Bitwise predicts that BTC will trade “above $200,000” in 2025, and four years later in 2029, it “will overtake the $18 trillion gold market and trade above $1 million per bitcoin.”
However, the firm added a caveat that could push the 2025 prediction all the way past half a million. “If the U.S. government follows through on proposals to establish a one million bitcoin strategic reserve, $200,000 becomes $500,000 or more,” Bitwise stated.
Asset manager Vaneck provided a more modest prediction, capping its estimate at $180,000 within the first quarter of 2025, coupled with a $54,000 dip afterward. Matthew Sigel, Vaneck’s head of digital assets research, pointed out that his team has a model that incorporates a strategic bitcoin reserve scenario and generates a much higher price as a result – $3 million by 2050.
Meanwhile, Gautam Chhugani, a senior analyst at brokerage firm Bernstein, predicted a $200,000 bitcoin price in June, and doubled down on that prediction in November. “Bitcoin to $100,000 seems around the corner and our $200,000 bitcoin target [by the end of] 2025 now looks not as delusional,” the team said.
On the more bullish side of estimates, Michael Saylor, chairman of Microstrategy, the world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, predicted a $13 million BTC price by 2045 during his keynote speech at the July Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Saylor recently explained his rationale for that long-term estimate on the popular Impact Theory podcast. “The Bitcoin 24 model is an open-source macro model of Bitcoin adoption and macroeconomic development over the next 21 years,” Saylor said.
In a nutshell, the model assumes a 60% growth rate in price with a 20% deceleration across 21 years, yielding an average annual rate of return (ARR) of 29%, which over 21 years results in a price of roughly $13 million per coin.
In the end, only time will tell if these predictions hold true. The volatility of the cryptocurrency market, combined with external factors such as regulatory changes and macroeconomic shifts, makes it difficult to predict with certainty. However, the widespread optimism among industry insiders is a testament to the potential of bitcoin and other digital currencies.
