TLDR
- Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales called Bitcoin a “complete failure” as a currency and store of value
- He predicts Bitcoin will fall below $10,000 in today’s dollars by 2050
- Wales does not expect Bitcoin to go to zero, citing its robust design
- He dismissed institutional support as investment-driven, not ideological, and said AI bots are not adopting crypto in meaningful numbers
- Wales argues practical barriers like fees, volatility, and low acceptance prevent Bitcoin from becoming mainstream
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made headlines this week after posting a series of comments on X calling Bitcoin a “complete failure” as a currency.
People who think that Bitcoin is going to zero are likely mistaken. The design is robust enough that it will continue to exist in perpetuity, barring some currently unforeseen breakdown in cryptography or a surprise 51% attack (even then, a fork would carry on I would imagine).…
— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) February 25, 2026
Wales has been skeptical of Bitcoin for years. Back in 2020, he said he saw no compelling reason to use it, even though he was not ideologically opposed to it.
His latest comments came after users on X argued that Bitcoin’s capped supply makes it better than gold, and that growing digital ecosystems would push more people toward crypto.
Wales pushed back on both claims. He said Bitcoin is not a successful currency and called it “a speculative asset at best.”
He also rejected the idea that artificial intelligence is driving crypto adoption. “AI bots are not adopting crypto in meaningful numbers,” he wrote.
Despite his criticism, Wales stopped short of predicting Bitcoin’s collapse. He said those expecting it to fall to zero are “likely mistaken,” pointing to the strength of its underlying design.
He even suggested that in the event of a major network attack, the system would likely survive through a software fork.
That puts Wales in an unusual position — critical of Bitcoin’s future, but not calling for its end.
His long-term price call was still bearish. “I’d suggest a 2050 price target of under $10,000 in today’s dollars. Possibly much lower,” he wrote.
Why Wales Says Bitcoin Fails as Everyday Money
Wales made a practical argument against Bitcoin using a simple example. As a UK resident, he said he can send £10 to a friend instantly through a bank with no fee.
Doing the same with Bitcoin, he said, would involve buying the asset, paying a spread, sending it with network fees, and converting it back to pounds — paying another spread along the way.
He also addressed the comparison some users drew between current Bitcoin skepticism and early doubts about the internet. Wales said he does not think that comparison holds up.
How Wales Views Gold vs Bitcoin
Wales said gold differs from Bitcoin because it has physical uses outside of finance and does not require ongoing network costs to exist.
Bitcoin, by contrast, depends on miners and infrastructure to stay operational, which he sees as a structural weakness.
He did acknowledge one area where crypto has value — helping people in authoritarian countries move money outside of government oversight.
But he said that use case is too narrow to make crypto a mainstream currency.
Bitcoin was trading at $68,716 at the time of the original report, up 7% over 24 hours. It has since pulled back and is now trading below $70,000.
