Jimmy Wales Says Bitcoin Will Drop Below $10K by 2050 – Wikipedia Founder Explains His Bearish Stance

TLDR

• Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia, describes Bitcoin as a “complete failure” in its role as currency and store of value
• His forecast: Bitcoin trading below $10,000 (in current dollar terms) by the year 2050
• Despite his criticism, Wales doesn’t believe Bitcoin will crash to zero due to its solid technical foundation
• He views institutional investment as profit-motivated rather than belief-driven, and rejects claims that AI is fueling crypto adoption
• According to Wales, real-world obstacles including transaction costs, price instability, and limited merchant acceptance block Bitcoin from widespread use

The co-founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, sparked discussion this week following a string of posts on X where he labeled Bitcoin a “complete failure” in its function as money.

This isn’t Wales’ first time expressing doubt about Bitcoin. In 2020, he stated he couldn’t find a convincing use case for the cryptocurrency, though he emphasized he wasn’t fundamentally against it.

His recent remarks surfaced after X users contended that Bitcoin’s fixed supply gives it an edge over gold, and that expanding digital economies would naturally lead to greater cryptocurrency adoption.

Yet Wales didn’t go so far as to forecast Bitcoin’s total demise. He believes those anticipating a drop to zero are “likely mistaken,” crediting the cryptocurrency’s robust technical architecture.

He even noted that if the network faced a significant attack, the system would probably continue operating via a software fork.

This positions Wales in a somewhat paradoxical stance — deeply critical of Bitcoin’s prospects, yet not predicting its complete extinction.

Wales Explains Bitcoin’s Shortcomings for Daily Transactions

Wales presented a pragmatic case against Bitcoin through a straightforward comparison. Living in the United Kingdom, he explained he can transfer £10 to a friend immediately via his bank without any charges.

Attempting the same transaction with Bitcoin, he noted, would require purchasing the cryptocurrency, absorbing spread costs, paying network transaction fees, and converting back to pounds — incurring another spread in the process.

He also responded to comparisons some users made between today’s Bitcoin critics and early internet skeptics. Wales said he finds that analogy unconvincing.

Wales Distinguishes Between Gold and Bitcoin

According to Wales, gold stands apart from Bitcoin because it serves tangible purposes beyond investment and doesn’t require continuous network maintenance to exist.

Bitcoin, in contrast, relies on miners and supporting infrastructure for continued operation, which he considers a fundamental vulnerability.

He did recognize one legitimate application for cryptocurrency — enabling individuals in authoritarian regimes to transfer wealth beyond government control.

However, he argued this particular use case is too limited to support crypto becoming widely adopted currency.

Bitcoin was changing hands at $68,716 when the initial report was published, representing a 7% gain over the previous day. The price has since retreated and is currently trading under $70,000.

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