Venture capitalist Tim Draper recently said he was standing by his prediction that Bitcoin would hit US$250,000 by early 2023.
Draper was speaking at Virtual Blockchain Week, a virtual conference of industry leaders, futurists, and innovators on the topic of decentralized ledger technology. Of particular interest is that Tim Draper made remarks that he was not backing off his 2018 prediction that Bitcoin would hit a quarter-million dollars by the end of 2022 or in early 2023. In fact, he firmly stood by his BTC price prediction.
Still Optimistic Over Bitcoin Price
As Bitcoin inches closer to its next halving, where mining rewards will drop to 6.25 tokens per block, Tim Draper stood tall today in proclaiming his optimistic outlook over the future value of Bitcoin. Bringing up his BTC prediction of $250,000, he said, “That’s my prediction. Sticking with it. I’m very confident that that is going to happen. That’s happening. It’s kind of funny.”
There are several reasons for Draper’s view. First, he believes that there will be a huge surge in businesses accepting Bitcoin over the next couple of years. He says businesses will look at the lower costs associated with BTC transactions than those of credit cards and make the switch.
This has happened before when American Express was squeezed out of everyday use by retailers in favor of MasterCard and Visa. (The percentage that American Express charged businesses could reach as high as twice the cost of Visa/MasterCard.)
Tim Draper states, “All of the sudden, the retailers say, ‘Oh, you mean I don’t have to pay 2.5-4 percent to the banks every time somebody swipes a credit card?’”
Draper is putting his money where his mouth is in this regard. He has invested $1.25 million in OpenNode, a financial entity that is building a payment portal using the Lightning Network.
The other reason why Draper believes BTC will still hit $250,000 is that more people are going to invest in cryptocurrency due to the recent economic stimulus package for the COVID-19 outbreak. He believes that the stimulus will debase the dollar, causing people to make the move into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Not Eating His Own Dick
Draper offered up a penalty if his Bitcoin price prediction failed to come true. He said he would eat a “raw egg” if Bitcoin did not hit $250K by early 2023. This is a humorous take on John McAfee, who famously said he would eat his own dick if Bitcoin did not hit a million dollars by the end of 2020.
McAfee backed off his dick-eating pledge earlier this year. On January 5, he tweeted, “Eat my dick in 12 months? A ruse to onboard new users. It worked. Bitcoin was first. It’s an ancient technology. All know it. Newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more. Bitcoin is our future. Was the Model T the future of the automobile?”
While the stakes are far lower for Draper, Bitcoin enthusiasts are hoping his price prediction will come true.
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/JD Lasica and Pixabay.
Source: https://bitcoinerx.com/bitcoin/tim-draper-stands-by-his-250k-bitcoin-prediction/
