Jörg Molt Sees Bitcoin Reaching $380,000 in 5 Years

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are empowering the poor

Amidst the current crypto market gloom caused by the slide of major digital currencies, participants in the first leg of the Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference held in Manila on Thursday agreed that the slowdown was just a temporary glitch for the nascent technology.

One participant was very excited about the prospects of the cryptocurrency space, saying that Bitcoin could reach $380,000 in value within five years. This cryptocurrency was trading above $11,000 at one point on Friday, as data from CoinMarketcap showed.

Jörg Molt, a Bitcoin pioneer and blockchain specialist at the Satoshi School, said during the panel discussion that Bitcoin would remain the leader in the digital currency space and reach a new record high.

“All these concerns about Bitcoin’s [falling] value are just temporary. Bitcoin is here to stay and it will reach $380,000 in the next five years,” Molt declared in a statement that drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

When pressed by one of the panelists to provide the basis for his bold prediction, Molt jokingly said he “made a bet with some guy” that Bitcoin’s value could skyrocket by that much in the specified period. While he insisted he was serious about his projection, he did not elaborate further.

Bitcoin’s slide remains cause for concern

The massive sell-off on January 9 and 10 followed widespread panic in the cryptocurrency market arising from concerns over a possible trading ban in South Korea and China - two of the biggest cryptocurrency markets in terms of trading volumes.

At least two Nobel laureates criticized Bitcoin this week, which has not helped the case of virtual currencies as a whole.

Nobel laureate and Yale professor Robert Shiller has compared the Bitcoin mania to the Tulip craze in the 17th century, adding that the cryptocurrency would eventually fade and be forgotten.

Richard Thaler of the University of Chicago, a recipient of the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics, was quoted as saying:

“I can see that there is a bubble in the debt markets, with interest rates close to zero or even negative, and even in the indices, which are at record highs. But the market that strikes me the most is bitcoin and its sisters.”

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are empowering the poor

Molt, however, dismissed these criticisms against Bitcoin and the blockchain space, saying that the popularity of cryptocurrencies is a result of the old financial system failing to protect the poor from exploitation.

“The old world system has failed. Bitcoin is empowering the poor that gives them access to capital and money. In the old [financial] system, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and eventually they would have no money at all. The blockchain will change that,” he stated.