TLDR
- Jimmy Wales, who co-founded Wikipedia, labeled Bitcoin a “complete failure” in its role as both currency and store of value
- His forecast suggests Bitcoin will trade under $10,000 in inflation-adjusted terms by the year 2050
- Wales clarified he doesn’t anticipate Bitcoin dropping to zero, crediting its strong technical architecture
- He characterized institutional backing as profit-motivated rather than ideological, and refuted claims that AI systems are meaningfully adopting cryptocurrency
- Wales points to transaction costs, price instability, and limited merchant acceptance as fundamental obstacles to Bitcoin’s mass adoption
The Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales sparked discussion across social media this week following a string of posts on X where he described Bitcoin as a “complete failure” in its intended purpose as currency.
Wales has maintained a skeptical stance toward Bitcoin for several years. In 2020, he publicly stated he couldn’t identify any persuasive reason for its use, though he clarified he held no ideological objection to the technology.
His recent remarks emerged as a response to X users who contended that Bitcoin’s fixed supply cap gives it advantages over gold, and that expanding digital environments would accelerate cryptocurrency adoption.
Wales challenged both assertions. He characterized Bitcoin as unsuccessful in its currency role and described it as “a speculative asset at best.”
He also disputed suggestions that artificial intelligence is fueling crypto growth. “AI bots are not adopting crypto in meaningful numbers,” he stated.
Despite his harsh assessment, Wales refrained from forecasting Bitcoin’s total demise. He indicated that those anticipating it will drop to zero are “likely mistaken,” citing the robustness of its fundamental architecture.
He went further to suggest that even if the network faced a catastrophic attack, the ecosystem would probably endure through a software fork.
This stance places Wales in a somewhat paradoxical position — deeply critical of Bitcoin’s trajectory, yet not predicting its complete failure.
His price projection for the long term remained decidedly pessimistic. “I’d suggest a 2050 price target of under $10,000 in today’s dollars. Possibly much lower,” he posted.
Why Wales Says Bitcoin Fails as Everyday Money
Wales offered a pragmatic critique of Bitcoin using an everyday scenario. As someone living in the United Kingdom, he explained he can transfer £10 to another person immediately through traditional banking without incurring any charges.
Executing the identical transaction with Bitcoin, he noted, would require purchasing the cryptocurrency, absorbing spread costs, paying blockchain transaction fees during the transfer, and converting back to pounds — incurring additional spread expenses throughout the process.
He also responded to users who compared contemporary Bitcoin skepticism to historical doubts surrounding the internet. Wales indicated he finds this comparison unconvincing.
How Wales Views Gold vs Bitcoin
Wales argued that gold distinguishes itself from Bitcoin through its tangible applications beyond financial markets and its lack of dependence on continuous network maintenance costs.
Bitcoin, in contrast, relies on miners and supporting infrastructure for continued operation, which he considers an inherent vulnerability.
He did recognize one legitimate application for cryptocurrency — enabling individuals in repressive regimes to transfer funds beyond government surveillance.
However, he argued this specific use case remains too limited to transform crypto into a widely-used currency.
Bitcoin was valued at $68,716 when the initial report was published, representing a 7% increase over the previous 24-hour period. It has subsequently declined and is currently changing hands below $70,000.
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