CZ says Bitcoin will reach $1 million in under 25 years

Changpeng Zhao said Bitcoin will reach $1 million in under 25 years. He made the comments at Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong during a discussion titled The Bitcoin Century. Zhao said Bitcoin needs more utility beyond price appreciation. He identified mass payments as one required use. He also identified retirement and pension funds as another use. Zhao expects the core infrastructure to be built within 10 years. President Trump opened the door for cryptocurrency holdings in 401(k) plans in August 2025. Washington created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve from seized coins under a March 2025 executive order. Trump recently hinted at additional purchases. Bitcoin traded at $79,323 when the article was written. A rise to $1 million would represent a nearly 13x increase from that level. Bitcoin previously rose from about $5,000 in March 2020 to $69,000 by late 2021. Zhao also said Bitcoin will become more important than gold in national reserves. He estimated the gap at roughly 10x. Market trackers value above-ground gold at near $32 trillion. Market trackers value Bitcoin at $1.58 trillion. Bitcoin's roughly 20 million circulating coins would be worth about $20 trillion at $1 million each. Zhao proposed that governments allocate across the five largest cryptocurrencies after excluding stablecoins. He suggested weighting the allocation by market capitalization. That approach would put about 50% in Bitcoin. It would put up to 20% in Ethereum. It would also include BNB, Binance's token. Zhao acknowledged that recommendation could benefit Binance. Analyst Benjamin Cowen said cryptocurrency was at its cheapest since 2010 relative to fair value. Cowen also said prices could fall further before a move toward record levels.