When pushed to specify how soon he thinks bitcoin could hit $1 million, VanEck’s Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel told CNBC that it could happen within just five years.
"Half a decade, I think is possible," said Sigel in an interview on Wednesday. "When you look at the demographic trends and the intentions of young investors to allocate to Bitcoin."
It is an optimistic target given that the cryptocurrency has never gone much higher than $126,000. But other analysts and industry heads have made similar predictions.
Last month, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan also said that bitcoin's price could reach $1 million, and on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's son Eric also said bitcoin will surpass $1 million.
In 2024, VanEck CEO Jan Van Eck told CNBC that BTC could hit $300,000.
That said, many of these bitcoin bulls have skin in the game, with affiliated firms positioned to benefit from rising prices. Eric Trump, for instance, co-founded American Bitcoin, a bitcoin miner and treasury firm.
On Wednesday, bitcoin was trading flat at $81,221 as of 3:18 p.m. ET, according to The Block price page.
When questioned about his rationale for believing Bitcoin could hit the $1 million mark, Sigel drew an interesting comparison.
"It's going to be like the video game industry, where 30 years ago it was just kids playing video games, now Elon Musk plays video games," he said. "People don't quit; they also don't quit bitcoin. We have the first central bank buying bitcoin for its reserves, so this is a mega trend, but it will be very volatile along the way."