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If history is any guide, now is no time to give up on Bitcoin.
Admittedly, Bitcoin (BTC +0.14%) has already dashed quite a few millionaire-maker dreams in 2025. It’s now down 10% for the year, and showing potential signs of dipping below the $80,000 price level.
But now is no time to give up on Bitcoin. If history is any guide, Bitcoin will eventually recover and continue its relentless ascent to yet another all-time high. If so, it could help you retire as a millionaire.
Bitcoin’s history of exponential growth
What makes Bitcoin so extraordinary is that it has literally doubled in value in seven of the past 13 years. Put another way, Bitcoin has delivered triple-digit returns to investors with impressive regularity.
For example, Bitcoin soared by 5,428% in 2013, 1,375% in 2017, and 305% in 2021. After an off year in 2022, Bitcoin continued its relentless ascent to the $100,000 price level. In 2023, Bitcoin increased in value by 157%. In 2024, Bitcoin rose by another 125%.
Today’s Change
(0.14%) $123.17
Current Price
$91128.00
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1817B
Day’s Range
$90547.00 – $91905.00
52wk Range
$74604.47 – $126079.89
Volume
40B
Avg Vol
0
Gross Margin
0.00%
Dividend Yield
N/A
You can see what’s happening here, right? Bitcoin is more than doubling in value on a regular basis, and that is enabling investors to compound their returns over time.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. According to the 2025 Crypto Wealth Report from Henley & Partners, there are now 145,100 Bitcoin millionaires in the world right now.
Yes, some of these are longtime crypto investors who have held on to their Bitcoin through thick and thin over the past decade. But others are relatively new to Bitcoin. They picked up some Bitcoin during the crypto winter of 2022, and haven’t looked back.
According to Henley & Partners, the number of Bitcoin millionaires spiked by 70% between 2024 and 2025. That’s proof to me that the relentless doubling of Bitcoin over time has millionaire-maker potential.
Potential catalysts for Bitcoin
Understandably, it can be difficult to pull the trigger on Bitcoin right now. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency is now down 33% from its all-time high of $126,000 in early October, and there simply are not a lot of good catalysts to propel it much higher right now.
The primary catalyst was supposed to be a Federal Reserve rate cut in December. There were also hopes that new crypto legislation, in the form of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, might be enough to restore the spirits of distraught crypto investors.
Image source: Getty Images.
Additionally, some investors have been bending over backwards, trying to convince themselves that higher global tariffs, a federal government shutdown, and a spiraling national debt crisis might somehow be good for Bitcoin. The so-called “debasement trade” was supposed to send investors out of dollars and into Bitcoin.
But there’s still one thing that can happen that will send the price of Bitcoin soaring for years to come: the creation of a long-run strategy for buying new Bitcoin for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that was created earlier this year. Right now, this reserve only consists of Bitcoin that has been seized or confiscated. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has left open the door to recurring buys in the future, as long as they can be done in a “budget-neutral” way.
Unlocking the true potential of Bitcoin via ramped-up government spending might be just enough to help you retire as a millionaire. If you think there’s been a tsunami of new institutional money flowing into Bitcoin as a result of the launch of the new spot Bitcoin ETFs, just wait until the federal government starts buying Bitcoin in size. That will likely encourage other nations to go on Bitcoin buying sprees of their own, further helping to push up the price of Bitcoin.
Is that too much to hope for? I don’t think so. Nations from El Salvador to Sweden have now embraced Bitcoin, and the pace of global adoption seems to be unstoppable. If history is any guide, Bitcoin will eventually recover from its market swoon, helping to boost the portfolios of crypto investors everywhere.