Balaji Srinivasan Explains $1M Bitcoin (BTC) Bet Rationale, Says Could Take Longer Than 90 Days

Entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan explained the rationale for his bet that bitcoin (BTC) could reach $1 million in price by June 17 as he spoke remotely by video link at CoinDesk’s Consensus 2023 conference, which is being held in Austin, Texas.

“Could it be that it takes 900 days or even 90 months? It’s possible, I don’t have a 100% probability on it,” Srinivasan said on Friday.

“I may be wrong, but I’m burning a million to tell you they’re printing trillions.”

He described his prediction as a “symbol” of the “collapse in full faith and credit in the U.S. financial system,” because of a proliferation of money printing by the government to prop up a fragile banking system.

Relating the chances of bitcoin reaching $1 million to the probability of some sort of Black Swan event in the U.S. economy, Srinivasan said he thinks there’s a 10% chance of a very serious issue in months, a 70% chance of one in years, a 19% chance within decades and a 1% chance it takes a century or more.

“So, I don’t think it’s 100%, but the specific number I think is high as I see a lot of fragility in the system.”

CORRECTION (April 28, 17:30 UTC): Earlier version said Srinivasan said there’s a 90% chance of a serious issue within decades. Corrects to 19% and adds the 1% probability that this would take a century.