If bitcoin doesn't hit $0, it'll get to $1M: Anthony Pompliano

How are you feeling, Anthony? How I mean, what's the vibes this week as we as it feels like maybe we're in another crypto winter? Is that what people are talking about?

Well, I think if you look around the room, no one's freaking out, right? Everyone is cool, calm and collected. Uh I think they believe that Bitcoin is an asset that is going to do very well over the long run and most of the people who are here, they've now lived through a couple different cycles, right? There are still some people who are coming into the Bitcoin market, but most of the people, they came in in 2017 or 2020 and so they've lived through one, two, maybe even three drawdowns of more than 50%.

Another thing that I will always compare it to is the Global financial crisis saw public equities go down 50% in a single uh period. That has happened every 18 months for a decade in Bitcoin. And so the Bitcoiners are much more used to volatility than the traditional public market investors. and I think that's why you see people kind of just saying, look, we know where we are, we understand what's happening. Actually, if I liked it at $126,000, I'm more likely to buy it at $68,000.

So are you buying it at where it is right now?

I own more Bitcoin today than I ever have, and I think that you're going to continue to see uh people accumulate Bitcoin going forward because they understand the long-term value of a scarce digital asset in a world where they're going to continue to print money.

W Where do you think we're, I mean, understanding that you're you're talking about a long-term thesis. What do you think's going to happen in the short term? Do you think we've seen the bottom yet? Do you think we're going to bump along further here?

Calling bottoms is really hard. Uh I'm not really sure, but I do think that one of the aspects that people are not paying attention to is that deflation is a much bigger risk than inflation in America. So if you look at Bitcoin, Bitcoin historically is a forward-looking market. And so in 2020, Bitcoin ran ran up 600% and then we got hit with very high inflation and investors were saying at the time, I'm buying gold and Bitcoin because I see it as an inflation hedge. I think Bitcoin will be the fastest horse. Now what I think you're seeing is investors are saying, wait a second, this inflation thing is not going to be a problem. Uh I believe deflation is the bigger problem and so they are actually going towards some of the hard assets or things that would do well in a deflationary type environment. So Bitcoin's just going to hang in there, right? This is just, you know, going to be a couple of months here where I think people will see liquidity drained from the market. We'll see some deflationary concerns. The government actually I think is going to print more money rather than less. I think they'll bring interest rates down and uh we'll be back to all-time highs in Bitcoin next couple years.

I am curious. I mean, because it does feel like the market now in Bitcoin is different than it was in 2020 or 2018. I mean, I know you're one of the folks who are saying like, and really this was a mantra among many people in crypto. We're waiting for adoption, we're waiting for institutional adoption. Here's institutional adoption. Um maybe be careful what you wish for because it does come with advantages and disadvantages. Um, you know, things like there's lots more liquidity now, but not on the weekends or overnight when you have tended to see some of these sell offs. So how do you think about that issue and and maybe the lack of a floor because these institutions are not stepping in?

I think Bitcoin made everyone capitulate. Every single one of these institutions used to say this is stupid, don't pay attention to it. It's going to go away, it's going to go to zero. The government's going to shut it down. and guess what? Now they all have a Bitcoin strategy. They're launching Bitcoin products. Bitcoin is the single most successful product launch in Wall Street history with the ETFs. and I think that ultimately Bitcoiners they won. They they have infiltrated Wall Street.

Well, have they won if if that's one of the reasons that the price has gone down?

Uh who cares that the price is down in the short term. Bitcoin went from a penny to over $126,000 in 15 years. I call that winning.

I mean, come on, but you have, but you have all these leverage products now that are on top of Bitcoin, right? And so the people who are leveraged when it went down, a lot of them lost their shirts because you'd have this increasing financialization and institutionalization. There's nothing bad about that.

No, just compare it to last uh April when the stock market went down 20%. More people lost money then than they did in Bitcoin, right? Stock market is much bigger in terms of a market cap percentage. And so people are going to win and lose money all the time in markets. That's the beauty of markets, but if you simply dollar cost average into Bitcoin and you hold it, you're going to do just fine. And so if the gamblers on Wall Street want to come and gamble on a 40 ball asset, let them do it. Because what that does is it provides opportunities like this. Because those people want to use leverage products and gamble, it allowed for people now who are just coming into Bitcoin to start accumulating at $68,000 rather than $126,000. So it's a gift from Wall Street that they pushed the price down and allow people to acquire more at these lower prices because it's not going to change where Bitcoin's going. If it doesn't go to zero, it's going to a million at some point.

Are you willing to tell us how much you're down? Or are you down? I don't know where you acquire Bitcoin. Yeah.

One bitcoin equals one bitcoin. I'm never down.

Come on, Anthony. I mean, so, so, I guess my other question is, are you transacting in Bitcoin? Are you, you know, what what is the sort of endgame of

I use Bitcoin every single day to do the single most important thing Bitcoin does, which is protects my purchasing power over the long run from a government that continues to steal purchasing power from the people.

But you have to be able to purchase with it in

You don't have to do that.

How does it protect, walk me through that then. How it protects your purchasing power?

Well, people take dollars that are being evaporated in their face. The dollar has lost over 30% of its purchasing power since 2020. What do they do? They try to get out of the dollar. You can go into real estate, you can go into gold, you can go into stocks, you can go into Bitcoin, you can go to any asset. Bitcoin has done a fantastic job of protecting your purchasing power over that period of time. If you go back even with all the volatility, Bitcoin is still up something like 700% since the fall of 2020.

Th- this is something though that I've and I've had this conversation with someone like Michael Sailor as well, but I've never been able to wrap my head around it. I understand what you're saying. However, if I'm buying gold or real estate or what have you, at some point I can maybe will convert it back to dollars and use those dollars. But my understanding is that's not your plan. You're just going to hold the Bitcoin. But it's like you you die and you just have a bunch of Bitcoin? Like what's the end game?

I think that uh the Fiat mindset is to constantly go back to dollars. And if you go and talk to a financial advisor, they'll say, let's go to safety, let's go to dollars. I believe like millions of other people in the world that dollars are the riskiest thing in your portfolio. It's the only thing in your portfolio that is guaranteed to lose value. Why would you consider that safe? It's guaranteed to lose value.

It's not about safe, it's about something you can use.

Well, I think that again, I use Bitcoin every single day and if you go back over thousands and thousands of years, families have decided to store their value that they have earned through hard work in things that persist over time. And so if you look at let's say Indian culture, people will go and they will buy gold and they'll pass it down from generation to generation to generation. You cannot be the person who sells the family's gold. And so I think what Bitcoiners have realized is I'm going to take my Bitcoin and I'm going to give it to my grandchildren one day. And it's either going to be worth a lot or it's going to be worth a little, but I'm never going to sell it. No matter what happens, I'm never going to sell it. And I think that that ability to pass on value over time is a incredibly valuable thing. and that's why Bitcoin, simply holding Bitcoin is using Bitcoin. is doing its job. And uh, sure, people have talked about it being used to buy coffees or do all this other stuff, but the most important thing is to protect the purchasing power first. Only once it is protecting your purchasing power, then can you start talking about using it to buy certain things. And I think maybe the most important part is why would I use something in a purchase that is going to be more valuable in the future. The whole reason why they devalue the dollar is because they're trying to spur economic activity. If I make the dollar less valuable next year, it'll incentivize people to spend it today. So I think you see stable coins being used for payments and Bitcoin being used for savings.

We'll see how it plays out. Anthony, and I guess that view that you have is why, as you say, people here aren't, you know, jumping into the Hudson.

Well, me, Larry Fink, many other people, right? all now see the world the exact same way.

Well, there might be some nuances there. Anthony, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.