Famous Bitcoin Predictions That Were Wrong

Bitcoin is undoubtedly one of the greatest financial success stories of our time. But it’s also an asset that people have been wrong about, over and over again.

In fact, Bitcoin has been declared to be dead more than 400 times.

Bitcoin crossed $100,000 USD per coin for the first time in December 2024. Every expert on this list said it would never happen. Here is how wrong they were.

Quick Scorecard: How Wrong Were They?

👉 Quick takeaway: Every major Bitcoin skeptic on this list has been proven wrong. Buffett, Dimon, Roubini, and Greenspan all predicted failure while Bitcoin was priced below $10,000. The one prediction that failed from the bullish side was McAfee’s $500,000 target, which Bitcoin has not reached.

Bitcoin prices are approximate at the time each statement was made. Current price reflects the December 2024 milestone.

1. “Cryptocurrencies Have No Value…”

Warren Buffett has been, perhaps, one of Bitcoin’s most vocal critics. Back in 2014, he called BTC a “mirage” and advised investors to stay away from it.

As the years go by, he hasn’t seemed to change his point of view. Here are some of his most popular quotes about Bitcoin:

• In 2017, he called Bitcoin a “bubble”.
• In 2018, he described Bitcoin as “probably rat poison squared”.
• In 2019, he named Bitcoin a “delusion” and added that it “attracted charlatans”.
• In 2020, he said that cryptocurrency “had no value”.
• In 2024, he predicted a “bad ending” for Bitcoin.

That being said, there’s a rumor that Buffet has indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. Draw your own conclusions.

2. “Bitcoin Is Dead…”

The CEO of fintech startup TransferWise used to be one of Bitcoin’s passionate critics a few years ago.

During his speech at a London tech conference in 2015, he said: “We’re very much a consumer-led company. The trouble with Bitcoin is nobody’s asking for it.”

In 2016, he doubled down on his point of view. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, he said “Bitcoin, I think we can say, is dead. There is no traction, no one is using Bitcoin. The Bitcoin experiment, I think we can say, is over.”

That was 2016. Bitcoin has since grown to tens of millions of users worldwide. The experiment, it turns out, was just getting started.

3. “Crypto Will Collapse in 2023…”

Ben McKenzie is an American actor, author, and commentator with a lot to say about Bitcoin.

In his book “Easy Money”, he calls crypto a financial bubble and highlights the prevalence of fraud in this industry. In addition, he considers El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as a case study of crypto failures.

According to The Guardian, he bet against the crypto market in 2023. In the process, he managed to lose $250,000 USD predicting that the market would collapse.

Imagine if he had just bought crypto instead. Bitcoin returned roughly 150% in 2023, the same year McKenzie lost $250,000 betting against the market. A $250,000 long position at the start of that year would have been worth around $625,000 by year-end.

4. “Bitcoin Is a Fraud That Will Blow Up…”

The Chief Executive of the largest bank in the US has been vocal against Bitcoin over the last few years.

In 2017, he said that “Bitcoin is a fraud that will ultimately blow up.” He also promised to fire any JP Morgan employee caught trading it that year.

That’s back when it was worth just $4,000 USD per coin.

By 2024, JP Morgan had disclosed a position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF. The figure reported in SEC filings was roughly $731,000 worth of shares. That is a modest allocation for the largest US bank, but it is still a public reversal from the CEO who once threatened to fire anyone caught trading Bitcoin.

5. “Bitcoins Are a Bubble…”

This is what the ex-chairman of FedReserve said in December 2013, right when Bitcoin reached its all-time high, surging from $128 to $1,152 USD per coin in a matter of two months.

Bitcoin was around $1,000 when Greenspan made that call. It peaked above $69,000 in late 2021 before pulling back, then crossed $100,000 in December 2024. That is a roughly 10,000% return from the moment he called it a bubble with no intrinsic value. He has not, to public knowledge, revised his view.

6. “BTC’s Value is Less Than Zero…”

Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. “Dr. Doom,” is a prominent economist recognized for his prediction of the 2008 global financial crisis.

But he’s also become known for his heavy criticism of cryptocurrencies.

Here are some of his famous quotes:

“Literally 99% of crypto is a scam” is one of his most repeated lines, dating back to 2018. He said it years before FTX collapsed in November 2022, though the exchange’s implosion gave his broader skepticism a temporary boost in credibility.

7. “Bitcoin Will Hit $500k By 2020…”

Finally, we can’t forget one of the most famous examples of someone being wrong about Bitcoin.

This time, however, it’s an example of someone being a little too bullish.

John McAfee, famous businessman and occasional star of some of the world’s most insane headlines, was a true Bitcoin believer.

In 2017, when the bull run was just gaining momentum, he caused a stir by betting that Bitcoin would cost $500,000 USD in the next three years.

Suffice to say, McAfee was far off. Which goes to show that you shouldn’t believe a prediction just because you want it to come true.

The real pattern here is not that these people were stupid. Several of them are genuinely accomplished. The pattern is that confident, public predictions about a novel asset class tend to reflect the predictor’s existing worldview more than the asset’s actual trajectory. Buffett’s framework was built for businesses with cash flows. Roubini’s was built around macro instability. Neither framework had a slot for a fixed-supply, decentralized network growing at the pace Bitcoin did.

What About Peter Schiff?

No list of Bitcoin skeptics is complete without Peter Schiff. The gold advocate and broker has been predicting Bitcoin’s collapse since at least 2013. He has called it a bubble, a Ponzi scheme, and a speculative mania at various points over the past decade.

In 2021, he publicly stated that his son Spencer had converted his entire savings into Bitcoin. Schiff Sr. was not pleased. By 2024, multiple outlets reported that Schiff had partially acknowledged he was wrong about Bitcoin’s staying power, even while continuing to argue it has no fundamental value.

His position is the most interesting on this list because it has not fully flipped. He admits the price went up. He still argues it will eventually collapse. Whether that makes him wrong, early, or simply consistent is a question worth sitting with.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Bitcoin experts have admitted they were wrong?

Peter Schiff is the most high-profile case of partial admission. He acknowledged Bitcoin’s price performance while maintaining his view that it has no fundamental value. Jamie Dimon softened his public stance after JP Morgan took an ETF position. Most others on this list have not issued formal retractions.

Were any of these predictions correct in timing, just not outcome?

Some critics were right about volatility and wrong about direction. Ben McKenzie bet against the market in 2023 and lost $250,000. Nouriel Roubini’s 2018 ‘scam’ framing gained short-term traction after FTX’s 2022 collapse, but Bitcoin recovered above its pre-collapse price within 18 months.

Does being wrong about Bitcoin price mean being wrong about Bitcoin?

Not necessarily. Several critics on this list made arguments about fraud, regulation risk, and energy use that remain live debates. Being wrong about price is different from being wrong about every concern. The distinction matters when evaluating any forecast.

What does Bitcoin’s 2024 performance tell us about expert forecasting?

The 2024-2025 cycle showed that institutional adoption (ETF approvals, corporate treasury holdings) can move price in ways that purely fundamental or macro-based forecasts miss. Several 2025 price targets from credible analysts were also wrong, just in the other direction.