It’s been a wild ride for the market this year, especially in April, largely due to the volatility caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs. No asset has been spared, including the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC -1.04%), which bounced as low as $75,000 in early April but has proven fairly resilient, rising all the way back to roughly $94,780 (as of April 28). Overall, Bitcoin is still performing very well since Trump won the election in early November and is up about 38% since that time.

None have been more bullish than Michael Saylor, the co-founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy (MSTR 3.22%), now doing business as Strategy. Saylor thinks Bitcoin’s run is just starting to kick into high gear. In fact, Saylor thinks Bitcoin can rise all the way to $13 million per token over time. Here’s why.

Not straying from his thesis

In 2020, Saylor pivoted the business at MicroStrategy, which initially was a business intelligence company, and began using all available cash to buy hoards of Bitcoin. Since then, Bitcoin has taken off, as has MicroStrategy’s stock. Saylor has been able to tap the capital markets to raise capital that the company could use to buy more Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Price data by YCharts

The success has made Saylor even more bullish. He shocked the world last year when he said he thinks Bitcoin can rise to $13 million per token. His thesis is that he thinks Bitcoin can generate average annual returns of 29% over the next 20 years, taking the token to $13 million, which implies 13,616% upside from current levels. “Right now we’re 60% ARR, it will decelerate toward 20% ARR over the next 21 years, and the volatility will decelerate,” he said.

Since that time, Saylor hasn’t wavered. Not only has MicroStrategy continued to buy hoards of Bitcoin at big prices, but in a recent interview, Saylor’s comments indicated that he’s just as bullish on Bitcoin as he’s ever been. He said Bitcoin is going to move 30% to 60% higher per year for the next 20 years. “… I bought it at $10,000. I’m buying it in billions of dollars of quantity at $100,000. I’ll be buying at a million, and I’ll be buying it at $10 million,” Saylor said.

Despite heightened uncertainty for investors, the regulatory environment has undoubtedly gotten much better for crypto since Trump took office. Regulators that formerly took a stricter approach to crypto regulation have stepped down or been pushed out. Trump has brought on pro-crypto officials as advisors and in his cabinet, and he’s even created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Recently, federal banking regulators withdrew supervisory guidance that essentially told banks to exercise caution when interacting with crypto, and to seek approval from regulators before conducting certain crypto-related activities. This is a clear nod to banks and traditional financial institutions that they are free to bring crypto further into the mainstream financial system. Brokerages are also finding it easier to sell a wider range of cryptocurrencies.

Will Bitcoin hit $13 million?

I would definitely caution investors from reading too much into Saylor’s bold $13 million prediction. It is pretty unclear how he comes up with these annual returns he’s projecting. Trying to predict price targets for a volatile asset like Bitcoin almost seems impossible. That said, I do think investors can buy some Bitcoin for their portfolios, and that it can serve as another good diversifier. Given Bitcoin’s finite supply of 21 million tokens, many believe Bitcoin can serve as a hedge against inflation, or a digital form of gold, which has been on a crazy run in recent years.

Furthermore, it’s unclear what will happen to the U.S. dollar under Trump’s tariffs and considering the debt issues the U.S. government is facing. Bitcoin has historically had an inverse relationship to the dollar, given it was created as an alternative currency. For all of these reasons, I think investors can have exposure to Bitcoin and that it will move higher over time. Whether it gets anywhere close to $13 million per token is a huge guess.