Key Points
-
From a fundamental perspective, Bitcoin should achieve more regulatory and political buy-in.
-
The financial services industry, with its money-making motive, will come up with unique Bitcoin-backed offerings.
-
It’s not unreasonable to believe that Bitcoin will chip away at gold’s market-cap lead over the next decade.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is favoring the bears right now. Since it hit a peak in October 2025, its price has tanked by 46% (as of March 3). But don’t let that distract you from the long-term gains. This dominant digital asset has skyrocketed 16,720% in the past decade.
Where will Bitcoin be 10 years from now in 2036?
Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Bitcoin hodl keyboard button in green.
Image source: Getty Images.
Bitcoin will make fundamental progress
First, it’s important not to think about the price. In other words, investors should consider how Bitcoin will evolve from a fundamental perspective.
One way the crypto will grow is by becoming more accepted from a regulatory perspective. In recent years, this has happened with the establishment of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. And there are key government officials who are supportive of Bitcoin.
Over the next decade, I expect this trend to continue. Maybe the U.S. will start to opportunistically acquire Bitcoin as the country views the crypto as a beneficial fiscal asset. It’s also possible that Bitcoin could receive favorable tax treatment that supports its use as a medium of exchange.
Another movement to watch is Bitcoin further entrenching itself in the traditional financial services industry. The launch of the highly successful spot Bitcoin ETFs, like the iShares Bitcoin Trust, in January 2024 is the perfect example of how major firms got involved. Unique credit products are also being introduced, like those created by Strategy. It’s safe to say that more companies will find ways to leverage Bitcoin to come up with innovative money-making offerings.
Since the first block was mined in January 2009, the Bitcoin network has never been hacked. This highlights the robustness and anti-fragility of its architecture, with security being the primary focus. This is supported by an ever-increasing hash rate, indicating the amount of computational force that powers Bitcoin.
There are valid concerns about quantum computing (QC) posing a threat. In addition to this technology’s progress timeline being completely unknown, Bitcoin has the ability to adapt, like with a new proposal recently put forward to protect against QC risk.
Looking out to 2036, Bitcoin should be stronger from a fundamental perspective. And this lays the foundation for the price to rise.
Predicting Bitcoin’s price a decade into the future
I’ve previously discussed that I believe that Bitcoin’s market cap will get to half that of gold in 10 years. The crypto’s current valuation of $1.4 trillion would then need to rise about 13-fold to get to $17.7 trillion, which is half the precious metal’s market cap of $35.4 trillion.
Gold’s only advantage is that it’s been around for thousands of years. Plus, it’s viewed favorably by central banks as a reserve asset.
Bitcoin, though, is better because it’s purely digital, isn’t controlled by anyone, has a hard supply cap, is easy to transport, and can be used in transactions. These positive attributes make me believe that Bitcoin will chip away at gold’s value over the next 10 years, perhaps approaching a price of $900,000 in 2036.
Should you buy stock in Bitcoin right now?
Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $534,008!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,090,073!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 949% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 192% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of March 8, 2026.
Neil Patel has positions in Strategy and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and iShares Bitcoin Trust. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.