The backer of a $1 million Bitcoin price bet, Balaji Srinivasan, decided to donate a total of $1.5 million to three different organizations as a settlement after the bet closed out 97% below the goal price.
As part of the settlement, Srinivasan paid James Medlock, a self-described “hyperinflation doubter” and pseudonymous Twitter user, $5000, awarded developers of Bitcoin Core $5000, and Give Directly received another $5000.
Balaji Srinivasan
Because he believes in the common good and citizens can no longer rely on the public sector to alert them to problems, Srinivasan explained that he closed out the wager about $970,000 under his target price.
Srinivasan used his funds to make a demonstrably expensive statement on the state of the economy. He thinks investors will rush to buy Bitcoin to protect the value of their fast-declining dollars, pushing the asset’s value to reach a price of $1 million.
- Balaji Srinivasan decided to donate a total of $1.5 million to three different organizations.
- Srinivasan explained that he closed out the wager about $970,000 under his target price.
- Balaji might keep the one Bitcoin and the $1 million in USDC if the price of a single Bitcoin rose to $1 million by the same date.
The high-profile wager was started on March 17 as a result of a dispute between Srinivasan and James Medlock, a Twitter user going by the alias James.
The terms of the wager stated that Medlock would get $1 million in the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin and with an additional 1 BTC if Bitcoin’s price failed to reach $1 million by June 17.
Balaji might keep the one Bitcoin and the $1 million in USDC if the price of a single Bitcoin rose to $1 million by the same date. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $556 billion and is presently trading for slightly over $28,700.
