Bitcoin worth $1 million, The price bet was 97% below its price target, with backer Balaji Srinivasan opting to donate a total of $1.5 million to three different entities as a settlement.
On May 2, former Coinbase chief technology officer Srinivasan said the bet had been “closed by mutual agreement” 45 days early. As a settlement, Srinivasan paid $500,000 to anonymous Twitter user and self-proclaimed “hyperinflation skeptical” James Medlock, donated $500,000 to Bitcoin Core developers, and donated an additional $500,000 to nonprofit charity Give Directly.
Srinivasan wrote on Twitter: "I bet early and donated more than I promised." "I'm not in the habit of publicly burning $1 million," Srinivasan added, explaining that the reason for closing the bet at $970,000 less than his target price of $1 million per bitcoin was because he believed in “public interest” and Citizens can no longer “depend on the public sector to tell us when something is wrong.”
"I'm using my money to send a costly signal that something is wrong with the economy and that it won't be the 'soft landing' that Powell promised - it's something much worse." Despite donating a total of $1.5 million, Srinivasan still believes the US economy will eventually reach a state of hyperinflation. In his view, investors will rush to secure its rapidly depreciating bitcoin dollar value, quickly pushing the asset's value toward a $1 million price tag. The high-profile bet was launch ed 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 US dollar would not enter any hyperinflationary state. The terms of the bet stipulated that if the price of Bitcoin fails to reach $1 million by June 17,Medlock will receive $1 million in the dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC and an additional 1 BTC. Conversely, if the price of a single bitcoin is $1 million on the same day, then Balaji can keep 1 BTC and $1 million in USDC.
Bitcoin is currently trading at just over $28,700, with a market capitalization of $556 billion, according to Cointelegraph data.
