Being a crypto enthusiast is one of the most mentally taxing journeys you can put yourself through. The highs and lows of emotions that you will feel will be enough to make you feel like you’re the king of the world in one moment, and then have that feeling change to you being worthless the next. Sometimes those feelings are only hours apart. However, Bitcoiners are built differently. While we feel stress the same as each of you, the key difference is that Bitcoiners often have an extremely long timeframe. They know what Bitcoin was built for, have unbreakable conviction, know how it could potentially change the world, and how this will all take time.
While many people who are in crypto are hoping to change financially during the next bull run. The Bitcoin maximalist is in it for different reasons. They will claim that Bitcoin is playing a different game than the rest of crypto. And for the most part, I would agree with that statement. Most altcoins are made to make money, while Bitcoin is taking on governments.
With 2022 coming to an end, and 2023 beginning; I have been writing several articles reviewing the past year and making predictions for the next year. It is so easy to get caught up in the moment of what happened last year, and what will happen next year. But, Bitcoin is a long-term play. Even 5 years out is still extremely short compared to how long Bitcoin will be around. With that in mind, I started brainstorming about what Bitcoin will look like 5 years later. Which would take us to the year 2028. What would its place in the world be? What would be the main FUD that it is fighting against? And what would its price be? One thing is for certain, things will look much different.
Marketshare
Ever since Bitcoin became popular, the question of which cryptocurrency would dethrone it to become #1 in terms of market cap has been asked every year. Most recently Ethereum has been chosen as the crypto with the best chance to make it happen. Many experts have declared that it is a certainty that it will happen.
However, in 2028, Bitcoin will still be number one. The longer you are in the crypto market, the more you will begin to understand how this market really works. During the last cycle, alternative Layer 1s were the most hyped projects in the market. Hedge funds were claiming that Luna, Solana, Avalanche, Near, and Fantom would be the next big thing. However, the groups were merely pumping their own bags. As I mentioned before, altcoins were born to make money, and Bitcoin was built to change how the world operates. All of those alternative Layer 1s have dropped by more than 90% and may never recover. The next crop of new Layer 1s has already begun to appear with Aptos and Sui. It’s a neverending process. In 2028, Bitcoin will be number 1, and Ethereum will still be number 2.
Mining FUD
One of the key points of FUD thrown at Bitcoin during the last cycle was how mining required so much energy. Everyone is a victim of the moment, and what is popular to criticize currently. And right now, mining energy usage is one of those topics, but it won’t always be. Once Bitcoin’s adoption increases even further, Bitcoin’s energy usage will be considered “clean and a strength.”
The reason for this is money.
Money motivates the world, and as Bitcoin continues to grow, it will be one of the greatest ways to make money. Those who mine will be motivated to find the cheapest renewable energy possible. And those who are currently wasting energy will be motivated to implement Bitcoin mining as a way to use that wasted energy. This has already begun to take place at oil mining facilities such as Shell. As the price goes up, the motivation will become even higher.
Anything that uses a significant amount of energy will have mining capabilities implemented in it. Products such as space heaters, cars, fridges, air conditioners, and the list goes on. Being able to make some money on already energy-intensive use cases.
Worldwide Adoption
Even the most optimistic Bitcoin fans were surprised when El Salvador announced that they were making Bitcoin Legal tender in 2021. It was always in the future for Bitcoin, but it was something that we all saw happening further down the timeline. Less than a year later, Central African Republic, the second country would also declare Bitcoin as legal tender. They won’t be the last. The domino effect has already begun.
Throughout the next five years, I expect that we will see 5 to 10 new countries adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Most of them will be smaller countries in terms of GDP, similar to El Salvador. They will likely be located in Central America and in Africa. However, there will be a big surprise towards the end of this 5 period. A larger company will finally announce BTC as legal tender. Possibilities could be Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Turkey, and many others. Once this happens, that is when the real floodgates will have been opened.
Lightning
In many people’s minds, Lightning adoption going mainstream is what will either make or break Bitcoin in its journey toward becoming the world reserve currency. Just two years ago, Bitcoin’s Layer 2 Lightning, was nearly considered to be a failure. Development had been slow, and adoption had been even slower. There was little to no news about its adoption of it, and it was considered a ghost project. However, since then everything has changed. It is being used to facilitate Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador and being used for everyday transactions by many. Transactions are instant and nearly free.
While admittedly there have been growing pains, but that should be considered normal. The truth is that as adoption of it continues, the more Bitcoin is added to the network and more nodes are run, the more secure and potential it will have. Lightning has the ability in the future to run more than 25 million transactions per second. No other blockchain is anywhere near those numbers. It would be more than enough to have the world using Lightning for everyday transactions, and it will.
In the future Lightning will be used in a similar way to how people use checking accounts/debit cards today. Savings will be held in Layer 1 Bitcoin.
The development will continue and Taro will be implemented. This will allow stablecoins to be run on Lightning and allow the creation of tokens. Eventually, this will bring native smart contracts and DeFi to Bitcoin. Once this happens, the use case of 95% of all other cryptocurrencies will have disappeared.
Price
For many, this is what their main focus will be on. In 2028, we will have already gone through the next bull and bear cycle. We will not only reached the next Bitcoin halving, but soon be approaching the one after that. There will have been many ups and downs in price during this time. While many people have been doubting the future of crypto after the whole FTX situation. The truth is that Bitcoin will not only be here, but it will be thriving as we have never seen before.
In 2028, we will look back at the current price of Bitcoin being at $16,500 and regret deeply that we didn’t buy more. That we didn’t do everything humanly possible to accumulate more. If we would have just invested more of our cash from savings. If we would have sold unused things from around the house, found a side hustle on the internet, or even pick up a part-time job to have more cash to invest. Those who went all in will be considered a genius by their peers. They will have made life-changing profits. However, since Bitcoin will have gone up in price so significantly, we will no longer need to sell our Bitcoin for cash to use it. Most places will be accepting Bitcoin for payments. Many people will prefer to be paid in Bitcoin.
In 2028, Bitcoin will be at a price of $500k and that will still seem cheap compared to the future price potential it has. 5 years later we will be discussing the next halving and what the bull market will look like. The price predictions that we see then will be mind-blowing.
Fights against FUD
As always, not everything will be perfect for Bitcoin and it will always have its detractors. While today, the key FUD thrown towards Bitcoin is its energy usage or even being banned by governments. These will no longer be issues in 2028. However, there will be a brand new conflict.
If Bitcoin does reach a price of $500k with prospects of going much higher. As the world is transferring from a fiat society into a Bitcoin one, there will be pain. A world of those who have Bitcoin and those who don’t. There will be pleas that Bitcoin has caused great inequality in the world. That only the rich have significant amounts of it. As this transformation is taking place that will be true.
Fiat will continue to devalue at a ridiculously fast pace, and only those who have Bitcoin will escape unscathed. After this transformation takes place, it will ultimately be good for everyone, as they will be rewarded for saving their money in Bitcoin. But in the short term, there will be pain.
These are my predictions for what Bitcoin will look like 5 years from now. They could be more accurate than many would like to admit, or they could be completely off. One thing is for certain, 5 years is an eternity in the crypto world. Just think about how the world has changed in the 3 years since the covid outbreak. If Bitcoin and crypto’s adoption does continue to increase, the world will look much different than it does today.
How about you? What are your predictions for Bitcoin 5 years from now?
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