Aussie tech CEO forecasts bitcoin price to hit $US1 million by 2030

The Bitcoin price could soar to a $US1 million by 2030 as Wall Street's goliaths and exchange traded investors hoover up the limited supply of the digital token over the next five years.

That's the view of Daniel Roberts, the founder of Nasdaq-listed tech group IREN (NASDAQ: IREN), who justified his bullish forecast by declaring bitcoin's current US$1.95 trillion market cap could surge to US$19.3 trillion. If it did, that would match the total value of gold reserves above ground in the world today. 

"So, just to reach gold parity, you're looking at $US900,000 a coin for bitcoin," he said. "If you consider bitcoin's historical price trajectory, I'd be surprised if we're not at a $US1 million by 2030 given the traction of ETFs [exchange traded fund] and institutional buying now."

The former Macquarie banker turned Bitcoin apostle co-founded IREN in 2019 and is says it now plans to build US data centres to serve bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence (AI) cloud services demand.

He counts heavy hitters such as Regal Investments, Fidelity, Invesco, and Citadel on its share register and argued it's no joke to think Bitcoin can catch gold's $US19 trillion market cap by 2030.

Gold versus Bitcoin

Investors need to understand just how completely superior the digital asset is to gold as a 2500-year-old store of value, according to Mr Roberts.

"The easiest ways to conceptualise the value of bitcoin is to think about it as gold 2.0," he said. "We live in a world where digital and social networks have disrupted their physical equivalents. 

"If you compare bitcoin and gold, it's like digital versus analog, Blockbuster versus Netflix. Bitcoin's better at being gold, than gold is. It’s scarcer, easier to transfer, and easier to divide. So, all those characteristics that give gold value, bitcoin is objectively better at."

In December, IREN mined 529 bitcoin at an average all-in cost of about $30,000 per coin, however it has struggled to turn profits as it reinvests heavily into the AI race.

The stock hit the Nasdaq boards at US$28 per share in 2021, but crashed as low as US$1.50 per share during the 'crypto winter' of 2023. As of Tuesday's close, the share price had recovered to $US10.28, implying a market value of US$2.3 billion. 

In contrast, spot gold prices hit a record high of US$2,848 an ounce yesterday as investors worry about the inflationary impacts of trade wars. Physical demand for the metal has also hit record highs, as demonstrated by record monthly levels of COMEX futures contracts traded for February 2025.

In comparison, Bitcoin hovered around $US100,000 today and has surged 138% over the past 12 months.