Binance Founder CZ Forecasts Bitcoin to Reach $1M and Outpace Gold

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, has predicted that Bitcoin will reach $1 million per coin sooner than anticipated and will eventually exceed gold's market capitalization.

The cryptocurrency executive made these remarks at this year's Bitcoin Asia conference on Thursday, where he also described Bitcoin as “dangerous” for nations that fail to adopt it.

Bitcoin Asia commenced on Thursday in Hong Kong, drawing prominent figures from the sector to discuss topics ranging from corporate treasuries to building applications from the ground up.

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"I don't think we need 25 years. I think it's gonna happen much quicker."

“I think for Bitcoin hitting a million dollars would be a good thing — it will happen,” CZ stated. “You think we need 25 years for that to happen? No, I actually don’t think we need 25 years, I think it’s going to happen much quicker.”

CZ added that “Bitcoin will, for sure, become more important than gold,” noting that major countries will eventually recognize the leading cryptocurrency as a “much better asset.”

Bitcoin's price began climbing last week following reports that the U.S. Treasury would at least double the scale of its liquidity-support buyback operations. That announcement weakened the dollar, while non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin and gold saw gains.

Over the past seven days, the price of Bitcoin has risen nearly 12%, reaching as high as $81,160 this week before retreating to its current level of $80,520.

Bitcoin's market cap of $1.6 trillion remains significantly below gold's valuation of $32.2 trillion.

On the topic of national adoption, CZ remarked that countries failing to embrace Bitcoin will fall behind, similar to their experience with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

“If you think about AI, which country doesn’t want to hold the AI technology itself? Not investing in AI technology, not promoting the AI industry in your country, is dangerous for you,” he said.

“Many countries view Bitcoin as this dangerous thing — it’s not. Bitcoin is much more dangerous if you don’t use it: you’re missing out.”

He added that while it will take time for countries to move toward Bitcoin, this shift will eventually occur.