Ex-Coinbase CTO “Burns” $1 Million Worth Of Bitcoin To Settle A Bet, Throws More Light About The Fiat Crisis

• Balaji Srinivasan has settled a high-stakes BTC bet he made in March by donating $1.5 million to charity and similar projects.
• He bet on what he termed a buzz of “hyperbitcoinization” sweeping the financial markets in the United States.
• With the safe haven narratives springing up once more, Srinivasan landed blows on fiat as they “head towards hyperinflation.”

Balaji Srinivasan took his Bitcoin (BTC) enthusiasm to the next level by making a controversial bet on the future price of Bitcoin in March. 

On May 2, Srinivasan, an investor and former CTO of Coinbase announced that he has settled the bet he entered into by mutual agreement. He will now donate $1.5 million and states that it was done to prove a point because of the bad shape of the economy.

In March, Srinivasan coined the term “hyperbitcoinization” to describe the potential mass adoption that will flock to web3 due to a rapid change in global finance. The bet was made with Twitter web3 pundit James Medlock with the terms that should BTC fail to hit $1 million within 90 days, Srinivasan would pay $1 million in USD Circle.

From the mutual agreement, Srinivasan would donate $500,000 to Give Directly, $500,000 to Medlock, and another $500,000 to BTC core developers. Settling the bet ahead of time he stressed that he did so for the public good while criticizing public finance experts for not being reliable anymore. 

“So, I settled the bet ahead of time and donated even more than I had committed. I spent my own money to send a provably costly signal that there’s something wrong with the economy and that it’s not going to be a ‘soft landing’ like Powell [Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell] promises but something much worse,” he added. 

Hyperinflation claims could drive BTC adoption

Pundits have tipped Bitcoin as a store of value to counter fiat inflation when things get bad. Srinivasan is among those commentators and has stressed that the American economy will hit hyperinflation, making Bitcoin a safe haven.

He estimates a potential BTC market cap of $19.3 trillion after the period of hyperbitcoinization. Bitcoin currently has a market cap of $548 billion and exchanges for $28,325, which means, according to his projection, BTC will skyrocket by 3,369% to hit $1 million per coin. 

BTCUSD Chart by TradingView

While many have called this a long shot, in 2013, BTC was valued at $122, meaning the market leader surged over 23,000% in the last decade.