Balaji pays out his crazy $1M Bitcoin bet, 97% under price target
A $1 million Bitcoin (BTC) price bet has been closed out 97% under its target price, with its backer Balaji Srinivasan choosing instead to donate a total of $1.5 million to three different entities as a settlement.
On May 2, Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer at Coinbase, said the bet had been “closed out by mutual agreement” 45 days ahead of time.
As a settlement, Srinivasan paid pseudonymous Twitter user and self-titled “hyperinflation doubter” James Medlock $500,000, donated $500,000 to Bitcoin Core developers and gave an additional $500,000 to the non-profit charity Give Directly.
I just burned a million to tell you they're printing trillions. pic.twitter.com/pX5622rjUO
“I settled the bet ahead of time and donated even more than I had committed,” Srinivasan tweeted.
“I’m not in the habit of publicly burning a million bucks,” Srinivasan added, explaining the reason for closing out the wager around $970,000 below his target price of a $1 million per Bitcoin was because he believes “in the public good” and citizens can no longer “rely on the public sector […] to tell us when something's wrong.”
Despite giving away a total of $1.5 million, Srinivasan remains convinced the American economy will eventually reach a state of hyperinflation. Under his view, investors will rush to secure the value of their rapidly-depreciating dollars in Bitcoin, rapidly driving the value of the asset to reach a price of $1 million.
The high-profile wager was initiated on March 17 following a disagreement between Srinivasan and pseudonymous Twitter user James Medlock. Medlock initially tweeted that he would bet someone $1 million that the U.S. dollar would not enter any state of hyperinflation.
Related: How can Bitcoin hold $28K
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