Let’s talk about something Samson Mow, CEO of Bitcoin technology company Jan3, recently shared on X (formerly Twitter). He took a moment to compare Bitcoin to the “broken” fiat system, and the numbers he used might make you do a double-take.
Imagine Bitcoin hitting $1 million per coin. Sounds wild, right? But Samson challenges us to think about what’s actually crazier: a $1 million Bitcoin or the staggering amount of interest the U.S. pays on its debt every year?
Someone was criticizing me on Nostr – probably on my fast $1.0M prediction. I wonder what they think a “ridiculous dollar price” is exactly.
Let’s assume Bitcoin did go to $1.0M.
Interest payments on the US debt will reach $1 trillion next year. That’s 1 million $BTC if BTC… pic.twitter.com/mfYKGdrEYI
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) August 24, 2024
Here’s how he breaks it down: The U.S. is set to pay $1 trillion in interest on its debt next year. If Bitcoin were priced at $1 million, that would equate to 1 million Bitcoin (about 4.76% of the total Bitcoin supply). Now, consider the U.S. national debt, which is at $35 trillion, and add in the unfunded liabilities (like Social Security and Medicare) totaling $218 trillion. That gives us a whopping $253 trillion, or the equivalent of 253 million Bitcoins at that same $1 million price. That’s 12 times the total supply of Bitcoin.
Samson also points out that inflation could be anywhere from 10% to 150% in real terms. When you start pricing these massive figures in Bitcoin, the numbers get even more surreal.
So, what’s more ridiculous: the idea of Bitcoin reaching $1 million or the fact that the fiat system keeps chugging along despite these massive debts and liabilities? Samson suggests that it’s not Bitcoin’s price that’s ridiculous; it’s the fact that we’re still pricing Bitcoin in fiat at all. And according to him, that might change sooner than we think.
It’s definitely a thought-provoking comparison, and one that makes you question the long-term sustainability of the current financial system. What do you think—could we really see Bitcoin take off in the way Samson predicts? Let us know. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $63,863 according to CoinMarketCap data, with still room to grow according to recent analysis.
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