Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki usually recommends investing in rock-solid assets. His favorite ideas include precious metals, real estate, or running a business of your own.
With Kiyosaki’s focus on value-oriented assets and income-generating investments in mind, I’m intrigued by his recent projections for the Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC) cryptocurrency. Two weeks ago, Kiyosaki pinned a $350,000 price target on Bitcoin for 2025. He doubled down on that prediction this Thursday, aiming this year’s price at a range from $175,000 to $350,000 per coin.
Bitcoin gained 119% in 2024, rising from $42,221 to $92,627 per coin. Kiyosaki’s projections work out to a 2025 price gain of at least 89% and as much as 278%.
Do these ambitious price targets make sense? Let’s take a look.
Bitcoin has several price catalysts in the air right now.
The digital currency halved the rewards for mining new coins last April. These so-called halvings change Bitcoin’s economic model, as the fixed costs of Bitcoin mining remain unchanged while the resulting inflow of new Bitcoins slows down.
Without sharp price increases over time, crypto miners would eventually be unable to pay their bills, and the blockchain network would grind to a halt. The mining process plays an important role in the validation and publishing of Bitcoin transactions. So Bitcoin tends to soar after each halving, typically after a delay of 9 to 12 months.
The ongoing price gains seem to fit the schedule of the first three halvings, with most of this cycle’s increases probably lurking around the corner.
Regulators approved 11 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Bitcoin’s real-time price in January 2024. The entry of spot Bitcoin ETFs gave large groups of investors easy access to Bitcoin.
Instead of opening accounts with a cryptocurrency brokerage and learning a whole new system for making investments in the digital asset world, anybody with a stock brokerage account can access names like the iShares Bitcoin Trust(NASDAQ: IBIT) or ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF(NYSEMKT: ARKB).
These funds manage actual Bitcoin portfolios, usually with the help of the Coinbase(NASDAQ: COIN) Prime crypto-asset custodial service. Buying shares of these ETFs is for all intents and purposes the same thing as buying a small slice of a Bitcoin. For instance, the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF closed Thursday’s trading at $97.27 per share, while the iShares alternative landed at $55.37.
If you know how to buy a stock, you know how to buy a spot Bitcoin ETF. These shares are available in retirement accounts, or they can be part of an institutional investor’s massive portfolio, and so on. The ETFs make Bitcoin easier to own in many ways.
Unlocking Bitcoin investments for banks, capital management funds, and financial advisors could have game-changing effects on Bitcoin. If these financial powerhouses want to incorporate digital assets in their standard portfolios, you’ll see a huge influx of old-school capital into the crypto market.
The top 500 money managers in the world ended 2023 with $128 trillion under management, according to WTW. That ocean of invested capital probably soared even higher in 2024, based on the S&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index gaining 23% last year. Bitcoin’s total market value is worth about 1% of the combined institutional investor accounts. They could change Bitcoin’s supply-and-demand equation very quickly by allotting a small portion of their assets to this market.
Kiyosaki’s bullish price target is part of another potentially game-changing catalyst: Rising public interest.
There are about 106 million Bitcoin accounts on the planet nowadays — a small portion of 8 billion people and several hundred millions of companies. Most of these accounts are quite small, and Bitcoin users don’t do much with their accounts. About 400,000 Bitcoin transactions were processed on an average day in December 2024. That’s not a whole lot of real-world usage.
Now imagine a world where Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) are commonly used by ordinary people, at least for big-ticket purchases. With a strictly limited supply and rising day-to-day usage, Bitcoin’s price should soar in that potential future. Discussing the cryptocurrency in widely seen media channels — like Kiyosaki’s social media accounts — should increase public interest in this newfangled digital currency.
Bitcoin won’t replace the dollar overnight, and perhaps it never will. But it might serve similar purposes someday, for more than just a handful of early adopters.
Bitcoin Transactions Per Day data by YCharts.
I don’t know how deeply Robert Kiyosaki has analyzed Bitcoin and its future, and his near-term price targets range from “very bullish” to “kind of extreme.” Feel free to take them with a generous pinch of salt.
Still, I can’t get over the fact that people like Kiyosaki are taking a serious interest in Bitcoin. This digital asset is starting to look like a normal part of any investor’s financial toolbox, right beside classics such as stocks, gold, and real estate.
With or without Robert Kiyosaki’s involvement, this might be the start of a new era in personal finance and wealth management — and his engagement sure won’t hurt the Bitcoin cause any. It’s probably a good idea to have some Bitcoin exposure in your portfolio these days, as the catalysts I highlighted continue to play out.
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Anders Bylund has positions in Bitcoin and Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Does Robert Kiyosaki’s Bullish 2025 Bitcoin Prediction Make Sense? was originally published by The Motley Fool
