Although Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC) is sitting as of this writing almost 25% below its all-time high of $73,750 reached earlier this year, there are plenty of bullish crypto investors who are still convinced that Bitcoin will skyrocket over the long run. Among them is Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of MicroStrategy(NASDAQ: MSTR), who recently doubled down on his prediction that a single Bitcoin would be worth $13 million by the year 2045.
At last report, MicroStrategy owned 226,500 Bitcoins with a market value around $14 billion. It touts itself as “the largest corporate holder of bitcoin and the world’s first bitcoin development company.” Bloomberg reported last month that Saylor himself owns about $1 billion worth of Bitcoins.
Based on Bitcoin’s recent price of $55,000, a $13 million target represents an astronomical 23,000% return if you buy today and hold for the next two decades. Obviously, a lot has to happen for that to become a reality. Let’s take a closer look.
Bitcoin’s long-run performance
Yes, seeing a $13 million price tag for Bitcoin can induce a fair amount of sticker shock. But if you dig into the numbers, the math actually starts to make sense. And a lot of that has to do with the compounding power of money. If any asset is allowed to compound in value for a long period of time, the results have the potential to shock.
In the case of Bitcoin, it would require a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% for the magic to happen and it to jump from $55,000 now to $13 million in 2045. In other words, if Bitcoin can increase in value by 30% per year, for the next 21 years, an upfront investment of $55,000 would turn into $13 million.
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And, while it may be unlikely, a CAGR of 30% for Bitcoin is not out of the question. From 2011 to 2021, Bitcoin delivered annualized returns of 230% per year. And Bitcoin returned approximately 150% in 2023. Already this year, Bitcoin is up more than 30%. Over the past five years, the only blemish was 2022, when Bitcoin fell nearly 65%.
So what can investors realistically expect? In an interview this month with CNBC, Saylor predicted that during the next two decades, Bitcoin’s annual return would steadily fall over time, from about 44% a year to 40% to 35% to 30% to 25% to… well, you get the idea. The final long-run number for Bitcoin, says Saylor, would be the annual return of the S&P 500 plus an extra 8% to compensate investors for the extra risk.
At some point, of course, it’s worth taking a moment to ponder what a price tag of $13 million really means for Bitcoin. Based on its current circulating coin supply of 20 million, that implies a future market cap of $260 trillion. That dwarfs the value of any tech stock today, and in fact, it dwarfs the value of the entire S&P 500, which today sits at around $45 trillion.
Even if we assume that U.S. stocks will grow at a rate of 10% per year over the next 20 years, a price tag of $13 million still implies that Bitcoin would represent an astonishing amount of the world’s wealth in the year 2045. For that reason alone, it’s worth having a healthy dose of skepticism about Bitcoin’s future price trajectory.
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Bitcoin as an asset class
For much of its history, Bitcoin has been uncorrelated with any major asset class, and that has made it very unique from a risk diversification perspective. Quite simply, Bitcoin can zig when other assets zag.
Image source: Getty Images.
Thus, Bitcoin is growing in favor with billionaire hedge fund managers, who increasingly view it as a way to hedge risk. In some cases, that risk might be economic, such as the risk of inflation. In other cases, that risk might be geopolitical. In the CNBC interview, Saylor uses the example of missile strikes to illustrate this point. What do you do as an investor if you wake up one morning and hear that there have been missile strikes somewhere in the world?
Until recently, the answer to that question might have been: Buy gold. But there is growing popularity in the notion that Bitcoin is “digital gold.” Some investors are buying Bitcoin, and not gold, as a hedge against worst-case scenarios popping off around the world. It sounds surprising, but Bitcoin might actually be a safe haven asset.
All of which is to say: The more that Bitcoin can cement its status as a valuable, stand-alone asset class, the more likely it is that its price could skyrocket during the next two decades. That’s because investors will be willing to allocate a greater and greater share of their portfolio to it.
Risk factors
Of course, there are several factors that could derail Bitcoin during the next two decades. For example, if Bitcoin’s annual returns decline significantly for an extended period of time, investors might just decide that they can get the same type of return, while taking on much less risk, simply by buying hot tech stocks.
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Or, even worse, the U.S. political and regulatory establishment might shift against Bitcoin. For example, there might be a crackdown on Bitcoin mining, given the concerns over its environmental impact. Or, regulators in the U.S. might decide to ban Bitcoin entirely, as they’ve done in China and other nations. At the very least, the government could make things difficult for Bitcoin owners simply by making a few quick changes to the U.S. tax code.
That said, I remain bullish on Bitcoin’s long-term prospects. As long as it continues to deliver anywhere close to the type of performance that it has delivered over the past decade, investors are likely to be very pleased at Bitcoin’s valuation 20 years from now, even if it’s nowhere close to the astronomically high valuation predicted by Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy.
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Dominic Basulto has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This Cryptocurrency Could Soar by 23,000% Over the Next 2 Decades, According to MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor was originally published by The Motley Fool
If a company, particularly one that operates in the otherwise boring and slow-moving financial services industry, has seen its revenue soar 133% in three years, it’s clearly doing something right. That’s the best way to describe SoFi Technologies(SOFI +1.48%). The digital banking superstar ended 2025 with almost 13.7 million customers.
Product innovation has been a key pillar of SoFi’s success, and in recent months, this core competency has been on full display. This fintech stock just proved that the ultimate cryptocurrency has a clear use case.
Image source: Getty Images.
Giving its members another tool to better handle their finances
SoFi tapped Lightspark, a payments start-up founded in 2022 by former Meta Platforms executive David Marcus, to enable cross-border payments for its customers. Lightspark provides the back-end infrastructure, while SoFi Pay users can leverage this exciting capability.
This feature leans on the Bitcoin(BTC +3.99%) Lightning network, a Layer-2 protocol that allows for fast and cheap transactions to occur.
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What stands out with this is that SoFi doesn’t necessarily need to be bullish on Bitcoin. The management team simply picked what it thought was the most capable technological solution that could rapidly integrate and scale up. Since it was introduced in August last year, SoFi Pay now facilitates remittances to over 30 countries.
At a high level, the person sending the money and the person receiving the money deal with their own respective local currencies. Underneath the hood, SoFi and Lightspark handle the conversion to and from Bitcoin.
Besides how easy the feature is to use, SoFi could save its customers a lot of money. In 2024, $138 billion of remittances were sent from the U.S. to India, for example. Money-transfer services charge average fees that can be well above 5% of the value being sent.
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(3.99%) $2717.74
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$70898.00
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$1.4T
Day’s Range
$67564.00 – $71646.00
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52wk Range
$60255.56 – $126079.89
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56B
Propelling the top digital asset to its next stage of development
This product introduction shows how innovative SoFi is, as the popular banking platform isn’t afraid to try new things with the top priority being to better serve its members.
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Additionally, this move is a clear signal to the rest of the world that Bitcoin has a use case in the finance world. Looking ahead, it will be important to pay attention to any commentary SoFi’s leadership team provides on adoption trends. Other banks might choose to do something similar.
I believe we’re now witnessing the early innings of Bitcoin’s next evolutionary phase to becoming a medium of exchange. It has been a wonderful investment, with a trailing 10-year return of 18,000% (as of March 18). While I expect strong gains to continue, the crypto asset’s ability to transfer value around the globe is impossible to overstate and will be critical for its long-term viability.
Should Bitcoin be leaned on more for its utility value, it provides durable demand. This can support a higher price in the future.
Despite its position as a multitrillion-dollar asset class, the cryptocurrency industry is still trying to prove itself as a viable place to park capital. Volatility remains a challenge. And there is no shortage of critics who still believe these digital assets serve no purpose.
Even after considering these arguments, investors might want to test the waters for the sake of boosting the returns of their portfolios. Here’s the best cryptocurrency that long-term investors should buy.
Image source: Getty Images.
Start with the world’s prime digital asset
According to coinmarketcap.com, there are tens of millions of different cryptocurrencies out there that make up this relatively new asset class. That huge figure can distract investors who are serious about where to allocate their hard-earned savings. In this situation, simplicity is key. Stick to the proven crypto that has developed a dominant position: Bitcoin(BTC 0.57%).
Bitcoin has been around for more than 17 years, ever since its first block was mined in January 2009. This makes it the first cryptocurrency. Its market cap of $1.4 trillion (as of March 18) gives it almost 60% share of the entire industry.
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And the performance is phenomenal. In the past 10 years, Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed 18,000%. It has been one of the best assets that anyone could have owned this century.
You might be wondering what problem Bitcoin solves. It was created to be a solution to the current monetary system, which has its own issues. These center on persistent currency debasement and monumental, ever-increasing amounts of sovereign debt.
Bitcoin’s absolute scarcity, shown by its hard supply cap of 21 million units, is its most compelling feature. It’s also not controlled by a single entity, is completely decentralized, and has never been hacked.
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(-0.57%) $-390.91
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$68392.00
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.4T
Day’s Range
$67564.00 – $68885.00
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52wk Range
$60255.56 – $126079.89
Volume
34B
Expect the volatility to continue, but the gains can be massive
Because Bitcoin is an emerging monetary asset, the volatility isn’t going away just yet. Over time, the price swings have gotten less extreme. However, the ups and downs are something long-term investors can’t avoid. This isn’t unique to Bitcoin. Some of the most impressive technology stocks over the past couple of decades, like Nvidia, Amazon, and Netflix, were extremely difficult to hold on to during times of intense volatility.
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As was the case with those disruptive businesses, patient investors will be rewarded in this situation. Bitcoin is currently trading 41% below its record price from about five months ago. But it has historically always recovered to reach newer all-time highs. Its fundamentals, particularly around network security, transaction volume, and adoption trends, are all in strong shape.
Investors who can buy Bitcoin and hold for 10 years are setting themselves up for success.
The recent downturn in the crypto market has pushed many leading digital assets to significantly discounted levels, creating potential opportunities for long-term investors. Right now, many major cryptocurrencies are trading 50% or more below their all-time highs. Theoretically, all of them are prime candidates to double in value over the next five years, if not sooner.
Here are two cryptos trading at deep-discount valuations to their all-time highs, with plenty of potential new catalysts on the way in 2026. Both are solid comeback plays.
Bitcoin
At $74,000, Bitcoin(BTC 3.15%) is now trading 42% below its all-time high of $126,000 from October 2025. That’s a steep reversal of fortune for a cryptocurrency that seemed to be on a rocket ship to $200,000 at the start of 2025.
That’s why I think Bitcoin may be oversold right now. There’s plenty of reason to think that Bitcoin will reclaim its all-time high from 2025, and then climb ever higher to the $150,000 price level.
Image source: Getty Images.
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In fact, online prediction markets currently give Bitcoin a 12% chance of doubling in value this year to hit $150,000. Even better, Bitcoin also has a slim chance (5%) of hitting the $200,000 price level before 2027.
Right now, there are two major catalysts for Bitcoin. One is the return of the “digital gold” investment thesis for Bitcoin. Suddenly, Bitcoin is a safe-haven asset, similar to physical gold. In the wake of Middle East hostilities, Bitcoin has held up admirably. It’s now up nearly 10% since the launch of missile strikes on Iran.
The other key catalyst is the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The thinking now is the Republican administration might be tempted to pump up the price of Bitcoin ahead of the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, in order to advance their own political ambitions. To do so, they might initiate the buying of new Bitcoin for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. That might sound implausible (or perhaps deeply cynical), but plenty of high-profile investors think it might happen, including Cathie Wood of Ark Invest.
XRP
XRP(XRP 3.76%) is another beaten-down cryptocurrency that seemed to be on a rocket ship to the double-digit price range. But, alas, XRP hit a 52-week high of $3.65 in July 2025, and never recovered. It’s been on an epic swoon since then, and currently trades for just $1.50.
Today’s Change
(-3.76%) $-0.05
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Current Price
$1.39
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Market Cap
$85B
Day’s Range
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$1.38 – $1.44
52wk Range
$1.14 – $3.65
Volume
1.8B
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But here’s the thing: Ripple, the company behind the XRP crypto token, recently laid out a five-year plan for XRP that should help to send it much higher over the next few years. Investors will need to be patient, but XRP might regain the $3 price point as early as this year. Online prediction markets currently give XRP a 20% chance of hitting $3 before 2027.
Thanks to a series of blockchain and crypto-related acquisitions worth more than a combined $3 billion, Ripple is now working on a strategy to find more use cases for the XRP token and boost overall institutional adoption. As a base-case scenario, XRP should begin to account for a greater and greater percentage of global cross-border payments. According to executives at Ripple, that figure could be as high as 14% by the year 2030.
How long will it take to double in value?
Just keep in mind: There are no sure things in crypto, even for market behemoths such as Bitcoin and XRP. Before these two cryptos head higher, there may be a series of feints, head-fakes, and double-moves, making it close to impossible for crypto investors to tell what’s really happening until it’s too late.
As a result, it might take as long as five years for these two cryptocurrencies to double in value. But I’m highly confident that a modest upfront investment in these two cryptocurrencies today will pay off big later, as long as investors are willing to buy and hold for the long haul.
