Bitcoin advocate: BTC may reach US$1 million within 10 years

A wealthy Argentinian businessman known for housing the largest deposit of Bitcoin (BTC) in the world is recommending people invest Bitcoin “as much as you can afford to lose”, saying there is a 50% chance the cryptocurrency will be worth over £748,305 (US$1 million) in the next 10 years.

On the downside, Casares pegs Bitcoin failure going to zero dollars in value to 20%.

Wences Casares, an Argentinian technology entrepreneur with worldwide business experience specialising in technology and financial ventures, has become an eloquent advocate of Bitcoin.

He actually convinced Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and various other personalities to invest in the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

Casares, who currently lives in California, has founded an internet service provider, a video game company, and a bank, plus he sits on the board of PayPal.

However, the Argentinian mogul says he’s dedicating the rest of his life to Bitcoin, and now runs a startup called Xapo that stores BTC. He reportedly houses about £7.48 billion (US$10 billion) worth of Bitcoin.

“People often ask me if they should invest in Bitcoin and later how to invest,” he wrote in an extensive article published in his website Xapo Blog. “Here are my three recommendations:

First, own only what you can afford to lose. I believe there is at least a 20% chance that Bitcoin fails. And it may fail very quickly – even overnight – without much time to react. If you remember one thing from reading this post, remember not to own more bitcoin than you can afford to lose. For most people, this is 1% of your net worth.

Second, own Bitcoin. I believe there is a 50% chance that one bitcoin is worth more than $1,000,000 in the next 10 years, or over 300 times more than it is worth right now. The potential reward is so big that it makes sense to own some and to hold it for a long time. Even a small amount can change your life.

Third, invest with a patient and disciplined  mentality. I believe there is 100% chance that bBtcoin will go up and down, at times with considerable volatility. Trading actively – or even watching its price too closely –  causes you to forget the long-term potential that made it a worthy investment in the first place.”

“This formula may sound easy, but in practice it is difficult to execute. It requires a great deal of discipline. I have given this advice to many people, but few have followed it.”

He explains that if you invest only 1% of your assets, you’ll be able to not panic and sell your BTCs if and when it loses half or more of its value.

“You may be able to afford more than 1%, but I would stick with 1% given how big Bitcoin can be.” This way, he added, “You either lose one percent of your net worth, which most people can take, or you make millions,” he told a room of cryptocurrency advocates in New York City.

Xapo Holdings

Casares company  houses about 7% of the global Bitcoin supply. This means that Xapo, founded only four years ago, holds more ‘deposits’ than 98% of the roughly 5,670 banks in the United States.

The massive Bitcoin holdings at Xapo reflect just how much faith Casares has in Bitcoin.

“Everyone who isn’t keeping keys themselves is keeping them with Xapo,” said Ryan Radloff of CoinShares, which has more than $500 million of Bitcoin stored at Xapo. “You couldn’t pay me to keep it with a bank.”

Casares’ billionaire supporters include LinkedIn Corp. co-founder Reid Hoffman and former Wall Street trader Mike Novogratz, who recently launched the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI), designed to track the performance of the 10 largest digital currencies.

Xapo has a very tight security protocol in place to protect the massive amount of Bitcoins it holds and it includes burying old storage devices in heavily-protected areas like mountainsides and decommissioned military bunkers.

“Every part of their (account holders) DNA is geared to security,” said Sean Clark, founder of First Block. He also explained that the vault’s fingerprint scanners are equipped with a pulse reader to prevent amputated hands from being used.