175 years ago, gold was discovered in California.
Though it took a while for the news to travel back to the east coast (there was no intercontinental railroad and information had to travel by ship via Panama-no canal either), eventually, it set off a mad rush that transformed the face of North America.
It led to the growth of the California, the city of San Francisco, and the construction of the Panama Canal, among many other things.
Today, we are witnessing the earliest stages of a Digital Gold Rush.
Instead of California, Digital Gold was “discovered” in cyberspace, the frontier of today, like California was the frontier back then.
And the news is trickling back.
And the impact is undeniable.
Bitcoin is now the world’s 7th most valuable asset and recently surpassed the British Pound as the 5th most valuable currency.
More importantly, the forces are taking shape for a massive gold rush, with some people like Michael Saylor and Robert Kiyosaki even throwing around numbers that, one day, 1 BTC could equal $13 million. That seems a bit far-fetched to me, but consider:
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The United States is actively considering a strategic Bitcoin reserve, with Senator Lummis drafting legislation to acquire 1 million Bitcoins. This is something Trump has promised back in August.
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El Salvador has already secured nearly $500 million in Bitcoin holdings and still buying 1 per day.
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Bhutan has leveraged its hydroelectric power to mine over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin. That’s over 1/3rd of its GDP
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The Polish prime presidential candidate has expressed support for national Bitcoin acquisition.
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Multiple other countries, states (like Texas and Pennsylvania) and sovereign wealth funds are exploring, which can put a huge amount of money in and then not think about it for years (per Kevin O’Leary).
The momentum is undeniable.
Major financial institutions are moving rapidly:
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VanEck's CEO predicts Bitcoin could reach $350,000 and he personally has over 30% of his portfolio in Bitcoin.
Plus, companies like MicroStrategy are allocating significant treasury resources to Bitcoin and a shareholder petition has gotten their CEO, Michael Saylor, 3 minutes to pitch the Microsoft board about adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet.
And here’s a list that is already a month old, but gives you an idea (and a more recent one).
And China is about to enter into the market in full force with a Chinese court ruling that BTC ownership is legal (though, source is not 100% clear on this one).
I could go on, but you get the point.
And, the irony is that, the higher the price gets and the larger the market cap gets, the MORE secure and stable gets Bitcoin’s perception among ever larger investors.
This gold rush is global. It’s digital, which means that the speed, especially compared to 1849, could be head-turning.
There will be drops along the way, I’m sure, but as we get closer to $100k, the tipping point of adoption draws nearer.