 
 
A Harvard economist, Kenneth Rogoff, who once forecasted that Bitcoin (BTC) was more likely to sink to $100 than ever smash the coveted $100,000 milestone, has admitted that he made a wrong call.
“Almost a decade ago, I was the Harvard economist that said Bitcoin was more likely to be worth $100 than $100K. What did I miss?” he posted in a Wednesday post.
The Harvard Economist’s Bearish 2018 Prediction
Back in 2018, Kenneth Rogoff said during an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box that he expected a global regulatory crackdown on Bitcoin to trigger a sharp drop in the asset’s price and anticipated limited adoption of the flagship crypto as a real payment option.
“I think Bitcoin will be worth a tiny fraction of what it is now if we’re headed out 10 years from now,” he said at the time. “I would see $100 as being a lot more likely than $100,000 ten years from now.”
Rogoff, who is a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was at the time convinced that Bitcoin was only limited to illegal activities.
 
Bitcoin was trading at around $11,242 when Rogoff made his call. But instead of crashing to $100, the top asset has skyrocketed past $100,000 since Donald Trump’s November 2024 election win.
What The Economist Got Wrong About Bitcoin
Rogoff now admits that he underestimated Bitcoin’s role as a transaction medium in the $20 trillion underground economy.
“I did not appreciate how Bitcoin would compete with fiat currencies to serve as the transactions medium of choice in the twenty-trillion dollar global underground economy,” the Our Dollar, Your Problem author explained.
Notably, Bitcoin has emerged as a viable inflation hedge in many countries where governments have dramatically devalued local fiat currencies.
Rogoff further said he didn’t anticipate regulators, including top government officials, openly holding massive crypto stashes despite clear conflicts of interest:
“I did not anticipate a situation where regulators, and especially the regulator in chief, would be able to brazenly hold hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars in cryptocurrencies seemingly without consequence, given the blatant conflict of interest.”
That being said, Bitcoin was trading hands above $113,946 at press time, up over 900% since Rogoff’s 2018 doomsday prediction.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/harvard-economist-who-predicted-horrendous-bitcoin-crash-to-100-admits-he-was-wrong/