Bitcoin author predicts currency will beat gold as it matures

Ammons sees Bitcoin growing past gold

Saifedean Ammous, author of the 2018 book "The Bitcoin Standard," says Bitcoin already works as money and will grow to become larger than gold while becoming less volatile. He shared his views in a post on X on Tuesday, responding to a long-standing debate about whether Bitcoin can function as everyday money or only as a store of value.

Key numbers and claims

• Bitcoin's current market capitalization is around $1.6 trillion.
• Gold's market cap is nearly $29 trillion.
• Bitcoin would need to grow at least 18 times its current size to surpass gold.
• In May 2025, Bitwise's André Dragosch predicted Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2029, which would roughly match gold's market cap.

The debate over Bitcoin as money

Ammous's comments came in response to economist Professor Lawrence H. White, who argues in his book "Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?" that Bitcoin's fixed supply makes it too volatile to be used for daily transactions. White wrote that because Bitcoin's supply cannot adjust when demand changes, its price swings too much for people to rely on it as a medium of exchange. He added that stablecoins — cryptocurrencies designed to keep a steady value, usually tied to the dollar — have taken over most Bitcoin transaction volume. Ammous pushed back, writing that holding Bitcoin counts as using it as money. He argued that Bitcoin not being widely used for payments does not prove it is not becoming a currency.

Other industry predictions

Other figures in the industry have also forecast Bitcoin overtaking gold. In April 2025, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said Bitcoin could begin rivaling gold as an inflation hedge, citing global financial instability and rising fiat currency inflation.

What remains unclear

There is no set timeline for when Bitcoin might become less volatile or surpass gold. These are long-term predictions based on the authors' analysis, not guaranteed outcomes. The gap between Bitcoin's current market cap and gold's is large, and how that gap closes — if at all — depends on adoption, regulation, and market conditions.

Why this matters

If Bitcoin does become less volatile and grows larger than gold, it could reshape how people and institutions think about savings and investment. Many in the crypto space see this as the natural direction of the asset; skeptics argue the fixed supply will always keep prices too unstable for everyday use.

Sources

• Cointelegraph