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Balaji Srinivasan, a former CTO at Coinbase, stated that he had closed out what seems to be a losing bet that Bitcoin would reach $1 million within 90 days.
I JUST BURNED A MILLION TO TELL YOU THEY'RE PRINTING TRILLIONS
— Balaji (@balajis) May 2, 2023
The million dollar bet is now closed out by mutual agreement. I made $1M+ in provable on-chain donations, which you can verify by clicking the links below:
1) $500k to Bitcoin Core development via Chaincode:… pic.twitter.com/J9nwxZAAhD
"I just burned a million to tell you they're printing trillions. The million-dollar bet is now closed out by mutual agreement," Balaji Srinivasan wrote in a tweet alongside a short video clip.
He added, "I settled the bet ahead of time and donated even more than I had committed ($1.5 million vs. $1 million)."
Srinivasan said he donated $500,000 each to two organizations, including the Bitcoin Core development team at researcher Chaincode Labs, and paid another $500,000 to Twitter user James Medlock, who won the bet.
The purpose of the wager, as reiterated by Srinivasan in a Twitter post and a brief video, was to demonstrate that fiat currencies like the dollar are facing difficulty, and that these difficulties might cause the price of Bitcoin to increase.
On March 16, Medlock tweeted, "I'll bet anyone $1 million dollars that the US does not enter hyperinflation."
Vladislav SopovSrinivasan replied later by saying, "I will take that bet." He requested that Medlock buy one Bitcoin. If he (Srinivasan) loses the bet after 90 days, he will send $1 million.
As events unfolded, Balaji Srinivasan's opponent, Medlock, suggested a plan B: giving the $1 million directly to charity.
Srinivasan's bet, which many deemed unrealistic, attracted mixed reactions across the crypto space.
BTC price action
The Bitcoin (BTC) price increased on Tuesday as investors considered the most recent banking turmoil and appeared to regain their interest in cryptocurrencies.
According to CoinMarketCap, the lead cryptocurrency was last trading at around $28,612, up roughly 2.10% over the previous day.
Tomiwabold OlajideIt bears mentioning that at its current price, Bitcoin is up about 10% from when Srinivasan made the bet on March 17.
Alex Dovbnya
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin