Bitcoin Standard Author Predicts BTC Will Surpass Gold and Become Less Volatile

Saifedean Ammous, author of the 2018 book "The Bitcoin Standard," argued that Bitcoin already functions as a medium of exchange and that its volatility will diminish as the asset matures. In a Tuesday X post, Ammous wrote that Bitcoin "can serve as a medium of exchange as it becomes less volatile than gold while surpassing the market capitalization of the largest precious metal." He added that "holding Bitcoin is using Bitcoin as a money," and that its limited use as a payment method "is no evidence against its monetization unfolding."

The remarks were a direct response to economist Lawrence H. White, author of "Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?," who contended that Bitcoin's fixed supply makes it unsuitable for everyday transactions. "With no supply response to demand swings, BTC's price is too volatile for people who want a reliable medium of exchange," White wrote on Monday, noting that this rigidity is why stablecoins have overtaken Bitcoin in transaction volume.

Other industry figures have echoed Ammous's longer-term outlook. In May 2025, André Dragosch, Bitwise's head of European research, told Cointelegraph that the firm's in-house model targets a $1 million Bitcoin price by 2029, which would roughly match gold's market capitalization. Blockstream CEO Adam Back made a similar case in April 2025, citing global financial instability and rising fiat inflation as catalysts that will push Bitcoin into gold's role as a monetary hedge.

For that scenario to fully play out, Bitcoin's current $1.6 trillion market cap would need to expand more than 18-fold to eclipse gold's nearly $29 trillion valuation. As of the report, Bitcoin was trading around $83,479. The debate underscores a broader question among economists and investors: whether Bitcoin's programmed scarcity, championed by its proponents, ultimately strengthens or weakens its utility as everyday money.