Driven by the changes taking place in the global economy, can Bitcoin realistically reach the $8 million price point?

The meteoric rise of Bitcoin (BTC -2.60%) may be far from over, according to Michael Saylor, executive chairman and co-founder of Microstrategy (MSTR -2.67%). At the Bitcoin Prague event in June, Saylor predicted that Bitcoin could eventually reach a value of $8 million per coin.

Given Bitcoin’s current price of roughly $60,000, this would imply a return on investment of over 13,000%. This is equivalent to Bitcoin skyrocketing in price from $450 to $60,000 — a process that took nearly a decade. As a result, it might be tempting to dismiss this bold $8 million prediction. But there are two very good reasons why Saylor might be right.

Bitcoin is the “perfect money”

Given that Bitcoin Bitcoin is a digital currency created by an algorithm, and it has some very specific properties that distinguish it from traditional money. For one, it has a finite supply. You can’t simply print more Bitcoin, the way a cash-strapped government can print dollars. Only 21 million coins can ever exist, and Bitcoin’s algorithm carefully controls the overall circulating supply. Additionally, Bitcoin is a completely decentralized currency, meaning that no sovereign power or government can control it.

It’s these properties, Saylor says, that help make Bitcoin “perfect money.” It’s anti-inflationary, making it a potential hedge against inflation. It’s a superior long-term store of value, making it an alternative to physical gold. And it’s resistant to government seizure, making it a potential safe-haven asset if you live in a country with an overbearing central authority.

Over time, Saylor suggests that the differences between Bitcoin and traditional currencies will become even more stark, and this will lead to capital flowing into Bitcoin-denominated assets rather than dollars. It could also lead to Bitcoin revolutionizing the global financial systemas the world moves towards a new Bitcoin standard.

Granted, if you’re new to Bitcoin, this might all sound incredibly optimistic. In fact, Saylor — who is arguably the most high-profile Bitcoin bull in the world right now — is often so relentlessly optimistic about Bitcoin’s future that some of his predictions ring hollow.

However, it’s hard to deny that the US government is running unsustainable deficits. According to some estimates, the US is adding $1 trillion in new debt every 100 days. At some point, people will stop buying US government debt, and that’s when the “Bitcoin is perfect money” scenario could start to play out.

Bitcoin offers “corporate immortality”

Saylor has also been at the forefront of suggesting that companies add Bitcoin to their balance sheets as a treasury asset. This is the approach pioneered by MicroStrategy, which began an aggressive Bitcoin buying strategy in 2020. Since then, MicroStrategy has bought so much Bitcoin that it is now the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world — and it’s not a close race. MicroStrategy now holds more than 1% of all Bitcoin, worth approximately $15 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

According to Saylor, holding Bitcoin on a corporate balance sheet creates the potential for “corporate immortality.” As the value of Bitcoin will increase perpetually, so will the value of a company.

To illustrate this point, Saylor points to the last 100 years of U.S. economic history. How many companies still exist from 100 years ago? A handful, at best. In contrast, the last sliver of the last Bitcoin will be mined in the year 2140, so companies that hold significant amounts of Bitcoin today theoretically have the potential to live for at least 100 years.

Over time, as more companies buy Bitcoin, the higher its price will go as a result of this new buying pressure. Just keep in mind that at a certain point, you may have to suspend belief for this scenario to play out. During Bitcoin’s last bull run, for example, companies like Tesla were lining up to buy Bitcoin. However, this strategy didn’t quite work out as they thought it would, due to Bitcoin’s massive volatility.

“Everyone gets Bitcoin at the price they deserve”

Of course, by now you’ve probably realized that Saylor’s $8 million price prediction is based more on a macro narrative about where the world is headed, rather than a numbers-based analytical model. So it’s entirely plausible that you’d decide to pass on Bitcoin as an investment opportunity. Fair enough.

But as Saylor warns, “Everyone gets Bitcoin at the price they deserve.” Saylor says he first thought about buying Bitcoin in December 2013, when it was trading at $892. But the Bitcoin story seemed too good to be true. So he waited and waited, and finally bought Bitcoin when it was trading at $9,500. That was the price he deserved.

While I remain unconvinced that Bitcoin is about to hit an $8 million price tag any time soon, I am convinced that there appears to be a paradigm shift occurring in the global economic order. For this reason, I am becoming increasingly optimistic about Bitcoin’s ability to increase in value over the long term.

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