Key Points
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Going to zero would require the developer community, institutional investors, and $1.2 trillion in capital to abandon ship simultaneously.
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Exchange-traded funds already own roughly 6% of all Bitcoin on the market.
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Bitcoin won’t replace the dollar, but it might deserve a small spot in a diversified portfolio.
Every crypto winter brings out the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) obituary writers. The cryptocurrency has been declared dead roughly 400 times since its launch in 2009, yet here it sits with a $1.24 trillion market cap as of June 9, 2026. For a corpse, it’s holding up pretty well.
So let’s talk about zero. It’s more interesting than you think.
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The case for zero
For Bitcoin to become worthless, something would need to fundamentally break. These are the most plausible threats in my eyes:
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Developer missteps: The open-source community maintaining Bitcoin’s code could make catastrophic errors or fail to adapt to emerging challenges.
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Quantum computing: Future quantum computers could theoretically crack Bitcoin’s encryption, compromising the entire network. The faster quantum computers become useful, the faster Bitcoin has to change its security model.
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A better alternative: Another cryptocurrency could emerge as a superior long-term store of value, rendering Bitcoin obsolete in a functional sense.
Why the big bagel remains unlikely
Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar market cap is not speculative froth. It represents real capital from individual investors, institutions, and, increasingly, traditional financial firms that are taking crypto seriously. Exchange-traded funds already hold roughly 6% of all Bitcoin. Bankers are moving into digital assets.
The security concerns are also less dire than headlines suggest. The quantum threat remains years away from practical implementation. A 51% attack, in which bad actors seize majority control of the network to create any transactions they want, becomes increasingly impractical as Bitcoin’s invested value increases. Since 2009, every successful crypto hack has targeted wallets or exchanges, not the Bitcoin protocol itself.
There’s also the inflation angle. Following the April 2024 halving event, Bitcoin’s new supply inflation rate fell below gold’s mining-based inflation rate. Cathie Wood of Ark Invest highlighted this milestone around the halving event, strengthening the “digital gold” narrative. Bitcoin’s famous white paper sketched out this value-building tool right from the start.
“The steady addition of a constant amount of new coins is analogous to gold miners expending resources to add gold to circulation,” the technical document stated. “In our case, it is CPU time and electricity that is expended.”
A white Bitcoin logo on a brown background.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
The realistic outlook
Can Bitcoin decline further and longer than in previous crypto winters? Absolutely. Can it stay depressed for extended periods? Yes.
But going to zero would require a cascade of failures: the developer community abandoning ship, quantum-safe encryption upgrades failing, institutional interest evaporating, and $1.2 trillion in value simultaneously deciding to exit.
That’s not a prediction. It’s a fantasy or a nightmare, depending on who you ask. Either way, it’s a nearly inconceivable scenario.
Bitcoin isn’t a sure thing. I’d stay away from the maximalist approach of Strategy‘s (NASDAQ: MSTR) Michael Saylor, who has concentrated his company’s balance sheet in Bitcoin. But some Bitcoin exposure in a diversified portfolio? That’s just acknowledging that a new asset class exists and has proven surprisingly durable.
Bitcoin may not be “the future of money.” It might just be another asset worth owning. But that’s enough, and holding some sets you up for a nice surprise if it delivers on its lofty promises in the end.
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Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.