Former Coinbase CTO Places Huge Bet That Bitcoin Would Surpass $1 Million in the Next 90 Days

The former CTO of Coinbase and former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Balaji Srinivasan, has committed to a substantial wager that bitcoin would surpass the $1 million mark within 90 days.

Srinivasan has placed a public bet on the performance of BTC’s price. James Medlock, a self-proclaimed social democrat, launched the wager on Friday by making a public offer to wager $1 million that the United States would not experience hyperinflation. The former CTO of Coinbase agreed to the wager hours later.

“You purchase 1 BTC. I’ll send $1,000,000 USD. This represents a chance of 40:1 given that 1 Bitcoin is worth around $26,000. The duration is ninety days,” Balaji said, adding that if Bitcoin fails to reach the desired $1 million barrier during the allotted time, Medlock will win and retain the $1 million worth of USDC — the dollar-pegged stablecoin created by Circle — as well as the 1 BTC. Similarly, if Bitcoin is valued at least $1 million by June 17, he would retain both the 1 BTC and $1 million USDC.

Balaji is prepared to give the $1 million USDC to an escrow wallet owned by the well-known crypto celebrity and UpOnly podcast presenter Jordan Fish, who uses the name Cobie, or to the other persons he mentioned. The angel investor is also willing to move the cash to a smart contract if Medlock so chooses.

Isaac Haxton, an American professional poker player, decided to join in on the fun. Haxton said in a tweet that he is prepared to submit 1 BTC to the escrow on behalf of Medlock, emphasizing that he will accept the whole loss if he loses and none of the gain if the social democrat wins, so long as Medlock commits to contribute 70% of the funds to GiveDirectly.

As of press time, the price of Bitcoin is $27,200.34, an increase of around 36% over the last week. This week, the top coin on the market rose despite failures at industry-serving Silvergate, Signature Bank, and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) as well as inflation fears.

Additionally, for the first time in a year, Bitcoin has decoupled from the equity markets, with its price growing around 64% in 2023 compared to the S&P 500’s 2.4% increase and Nasdaq’s 14% fall.

Even though it is impossible to predict the price of bitcoin on or around June 17, it is clear that both sides take the wager seriously and want to follow through.

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