Bitcoin may be on track to skyrocket to $250,000 as early as this year, with major technology companies like Microsoft and Apple stepping into the cryptocurrency arena, according to Cardano blockchain founder Charles Hoskinson.
Speaking to CNBC, Hoskinson said, “By the end of this year or next year,” Bitcoin could hit a quarter-million dollars.
His prediction comes as the crypto market rebounds from a rocky period triggered by global economic uncertainty.
Crypto markets took a hit amid a broader sell-off of risk assets, spurred by U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of “reciprocal tariffs” on various nations.
Bitcoin dropped below $77,000 last week but surged past $82,000 on Wednesday after Trump announced a 90-day delay on the full tariff rollout to allow room for trade negotiations.
Despite trading well below its all-time high of over $100,000 reached in January, industry experts like Hoskinson remain confident in the long-term potential of Bitcoin.
“What will happen is that the tariff stuff will be a dud, and that people will realize that the world is willing to negotiate, and it’s really just U.S. versus China. And a lot of people will side with us. Some people side with China,” Hoskinson said on CNBC’s “Beyond The Valley” podcast.
He added, “The markets will stabilize a little bit, and they’ll get used to the new normal, and then the Fed[eral Reserve] will lower interest rates, and then you’ll have a lot of fast, cheap money, and then it’ll pour into crypto.”
Hoskinson made his remarks before Trump’s pause on implementing full-blown tariffs, but he outlined several broader factors that could push Bitcoin higher.
He cited the growing number of crypto users globally, with Crypto.com reporting a 13% increase in ownership year-over-year in 2024, reaching 659 million users.
Additionally, Hoskinson pointed to rising geopolitical instability as a key reason more people will turn to crypto.
If Russia wants to invade Ukraine, it invades Ukraine. If China wants to invade Taiwan, it’s going to do that. So treaties don’t really work so well, and global business doesn’t really work so well there. So your only option for globalization is crypto,” he said.
Another major catalyst could be upcoming legislation around stablecoins and broader crypto regulation. Hoskinson believes the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act, alongside new stablecoin regulations, could open the floodgates for institutional and corporate adoption.
Stablecoins—cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies and backed by real-world assets—could be particularly attractive to big tech firms. Hoskinson said the so-called “Magnificent 7” (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and others) may soon use stablecoins to pay workers across borders and facilitate low-cost digital transactions.
“The crypto market will be ‘reignited’ by these factors, in particular the passing of the regulation and the adoption of stablecoins by the Magnificent 7,” Hoskinson noted.
