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Bitcoin will eventually be the world’s currency because “you have to think it’s going to infinity,” Jesse Powell, CEO of cryptocurrency trading exchange Kraken, said in a Bloomberg interview Thursday.
National currencies are already showing extreme signs of weakness and people will soon start measuring the price of things in terms of bitcoin, he said.
“I think true believers will tell you it’s going all the way to the moon, to Mars, and eventually it’ll be the world’s currency,” Powell said.
San Francisco-based Kraken is in talks to raise new funding that would double its valuation to over $10 billion, Bloomberg reported.
The price of bitcoin fell 0.4% to $50,175 on Thursday, but is up 70% year-to-date. The price slipped earlier this week after cautious comments from Gary Gensler’s confirmation hearing for his appointment as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said making sure crypto markets are free of fraud and manipulation is a challenge. Gensler has been viewed as an advocate for cryptocurrencies, given his previous work and teachings on the subject at MIT.
“In the near term, people see it (bitcoin) surpassing gold as a store of value, so I think a million dollars as a price target within the next 10 years is very reasonable,” Powell said.
Bitcoin believers expect it to replace fiat money and the market capitalization of all national currencies combined could make up its worth, according to Powell.