By 2035, the price of the leading cryptocurrency could reach $1.42 million, driven by institutional inflows and the displacement of gold as a store of value. This is according to a report by the research firm CF Benchmarks, supported by the Kraken exchange.
Analysts Gabriel Selby and Mark Pilipchuk based their forecast on three metrics: market capitalization comparison, mining economics, and the asset’s response to monetary issuance.
The experts modeled three scenarios for the next 10 years:
- Bearish ($637,000): The first cryptocurrency will continue to grow within the current historical trend and reach 16% of gold’s capitalization;
- Base ($1.42 million): Adoption rates will double, and the asset will capture a third of the global store of value market. Expected annual investment return is about 30%;
- Bullish ($2.95 million): Bitcoin will become the dominant savings instrument, surpassing gold and reaching 125% of its market value.
Competition with Gold and “Money Printing”
Analysts highlighted Bitcoin’s asymmetric return profile: the growth potential significantly outweighs the downside risks.
Over the past 10 years, the median return on investment in the asset was 5.78% per month. For comparison, stocks had a return of 1.48%, and commodities 0.21%.
The key growth driver is Bitcoin’s limited issuance against the backdrop of a constantly expanding global money supply. The asset’s price correlation with liquidity growth manifests with a three-month lag.
The report noted the structural advantage of digital gold. Unlike precious metals, whose supply grows by about 1.5% annually, Bitcoin’s supply is programmatically limited, and its production becomes more expensive due to halvings and increasing network difficulty.
Volatility Reduction and Portfolio Role
CF Benchmarks forecasted a further reduction in Bitcoin’s volatility as the market matures. By 2035, this figure is expected to fall from the current 30-40% to 28%.
Integrating the asset into a classic 60/40 (stocks/bonds) portfolio, even at 2-5%, significantly improves the risk-return ratio. This is due to the low correlation of cryptocurrency with traditional assets:
- Moderate connection with global stocks, expected to decrease (forecast correlation by 2035 — 0.15);
- Correlation with bonds and gold will remain close to zero.
According to surveys of institutional investors, 73% of respondents recognize the long-term value of digital assets, and 68% plan to increase investments in this sector within the next two years.
Other Predictions
Selby and Pilipchuk are not the only ones anticipating a seven-figure price. Earlier, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong predicted a price of $1 million by 2030. Among the growth factors, he highlighted regulatory clarity, the creation of Bitcoin reserves by the US government, and interest in ETFs.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes expects this milestone to be reached by 2028. Strategy head Phong Le believes that state-level Bitcoin adoption will trigger a wave of purchases as early as 2026.
On @FoxBusiness, Phong Le called bitcoin a generational, macro, and capital-markets breakthrough and explained why $MSTR is built to outperform $BTC long term. Since adopting bitcoin: $BTC +45% return vs. $MSTR +62% return. pic.twitter.com/A8jewDar4I
— Strategy (@Strategy) December 15, 2025
Analysts identified a combination of macroeconomic factors and institutional demand as the common growth driver. Economist Ed Yardeni believes that the US is entering a “roaring twenties” phase, where artificial intelligence and productivity growth will spur interest in risky assets.
Bitwise and Grayscale forecasted a new Bitcoin peak in 2026.