- A Redditor predicted the future of Bitcoin in 2013 when the asset was trading for less than $2,000.
- The individual has predicted a $20 trillion market capitalization and commented that the road to the top was not going to be a smooth one.
- Eerily, a bulk of his predictions have come to pass and only the last epoch is left to be fulfilled.
In 2013, it was hard to imagine that Bitcoin was going to be a global force to be reckoned with as it was a fringe asset with a bleak future. Despite being hounded by wild price fluctuations and scandals, one individual kept the flames of hope alive on Reddit.
The Prophecy
In the wake of a massive price dip with Mt Gox at the center of it all, a Reddit user with the moniker, ‘JustSomeBadAdvice’ shared his thoughts for the asset’s future 8 years ago. He comments that for Bitcoin to change how money is transferred between countries and become the international standard among currency evaluation, the market size will have to increase.
He divided his theory into 8 epochs with the first being the adoption of the asset by early users which brought the asset a market cap of $50M. The next milestone of $1 Billion was a result of its use in small transactions like the Silk Road and the first forays into cross-border transactions brought the asset a market cap of $5 Billion.
At the time of his prediction, the asset’s market value was circa $1 billion which was largely due to “mid-level illegal transactions and mid-sized legal transactions” and the incursion of Angel and VC investors in creating start-ups. He forecasted that as the asset neared the $25 billion mark, wealthy individuals would begin to use the asset for transactions and the government will wade in to “try to regulate what they can”.
The sixth epoch would also see the asset have a market valuation of $400 billion with large businesses beginning to dabble in it. This episode will see increased government crackdowns and the shutting down of some Bitcoin businesses. At $1 trillion, he reasoned that “businesses learn to follow Government rules and procedures become standardized.”
The Big Future – $20 Trillion
The final stage of the prophecy is his belief that the asset will attain a market capitalization of between $5-20 trillion that will usher in a measure of stability.
“Becomes the de-facto standard of international trade and currency evaluation, replacing the dollar as the global standard,” he said. “Prices stabilize and shift only a fraction of a percent a day. Can now be used as a real currency for the first time since inception.”
He argues that the journey to the top will not be a “linear graph” but will be a “painful up and down process” because of its potential for explosive growth. For this to happen, he warned that Bitcoin companies should have to earn the trust of users and eliminate the scams in the industry.
Lastly, he adds that using the dollar for international transactions post-bitcoin would not make a lot of sense. He cites potential depreciation, regulation, expensive transfer fees as part of the reasons why Bitcoin will flip the dollar.
So far, a bulk of his predictions have come true. Bitcoin has reached a market cap of over $1 trillion amid a flurry of regulations to standardize its usage while some regions have outrightly banned the use of the asset. Whether the last epoch comes or not, it is certainly interesting to see what the future brings for the asset class.
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