Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said this week that while Bitcoin is unlikely to collapse to zero, it is also unlikely to become the dominant form of money in the future.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said this week that while Bitcoin is unlikely to collapse to zero, it is also unlikely to become the dominant form of money in the future.
In a series of on social platform X, Wales argued back against claims that Bitcoin is the world’s only truly scarce currency and is poised to surge as artificial intelligence expands.
“It’s not a successful currency at all. It’s a speculative asset at best,” Wales wrote. He also dismissed the idea that AI systems are meaningfully adopting crypto, saying, “AI bots are not adopting crypto in meaningful numbers.”
His comments came after users argued that Bitcoin’s capped supply makes it superior to gold and that growing digital ecosystems would naturally favor crypto over traditional banking systems.
Despite his criticism, Wales made clear he does not expect Bitcoin to disappear.
He has previously said that those predicting will fall to zero are “likely mistaken,” citing the strength of its design. Even in the event of a severe network attack, he suggested the system would likely continue through a software fork.
That view places him in the middle ground: skeptical of Bitcoin’s long-term dominance, but not forecasting its collapse.
He went further, offering a long-term projection: “So I’d suggest a 2050 price target of under $10,000 in today’s dollars. Possibly much lower.”
Wales’ main argument centers on practicality. Responding to claims that crypto offers lower transaction costs than banks, he gave a simple example. Living in the United Kingdom, he said he can send £10 to a friend instantly through a bank transfer with no fee.
Using Bitcoin, he argued, would involve buying the asset, paying a spread, sending it with network fees, and then converting it back into pounds, paying another spread.
He added that Bitcoin does not effectively fulfill the roles supporters often describe, such as being a stable currency or reliable store of value.
Some users compared today’s skepticism toward Bitcoin to the doubts about the internet in the early 1990s.
Wales did not agree with that comparison. He also noted that gold differs from Bitcoin because it has non-monetary uses and exists physically without requiring ongoing network costs. Bitcoin, by contrast, depends on miners and infrastructure to remain operational.
Bitcoin is now trading below $70,000. The price has fallen recently, and analysts are watching closely to see if it can climb back above important levels.
