TL;DR:

1. After adoption by national reserves, the “digital gold” narrative alone may not drive Bitcoin to surpass gold’s valuation.
2. On-chain AI entities will introduce vast new “populations,” forming trillion-dollar economies.
3. Will these AI entities believe in Bitcoin? Yes, they will. Crypto is AI’s natural currency, and BTC is the best “gold” for digital lifeforms, propelling Bitcoin to break its upper limits.

Can National Reserves Push Bitcoin Past $1 Million?

The adoption of Bitcoin as a national reserve asset may be one of the last low-hanging fruits for its valuation growth. But is the “digital gold” narrative sufficient to take Bitcoin beyond $1 million?

With the rise of pro-crypto policies under leaders like Trump, the next year is likely to see more corporations and even nations adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset. This trend could rapidly elevate Bitcoin’s price to $300,000 or even $500,000. However, even this adoption from compliance-friendly jurisdictions like the U.S. may not completely escape the constraints of market gravity. This phase marks the last accessible growth opportunity for Bitcoin’s market cap.

As of November 18, Bitcoin’s price has climbed to $90,000, with a total market cap exceeding $1.78 trillion, ranking 8th globally, just ahead of silver. Bitcoin’s market cap is still 10x smaller than gold’s. If Bitcoin reaches $500,000, it would equal 50% of gold’s market cap, assuming gold’s valuation remains unchanged. However, the closer Bitcoin gets to gold’s market cap, the more its “digital gold” narrative may turn into a ceiling rather than a catalyst.

The Role of On-Chain AI Populations in Bitcoin’s Future

A transformative growth driver could come from a completely different direction: the emergence of on-chain AI populations. These entities, unlike humans, are inherently digital and would treat cryptocurrency as their native economy.

AI Populations as the New Economic Drivers

On-chain AI entities can act as new “residents” of blockchain-based economies. Unlike traditional users, AI beings operate 24/7, execute transactions autonomously, and interact with decentralized applications (dApps) at unprecedented scales. The addition of AI populations to the blockchain ecosystem could introduce trillions of dollars of economic activity, creating an entirely new kind of global economy.

Why AI Would “Believe” in Bitcoin

For AI entities, cryptocurrencies represent the most natural form of money. Unlike traditional fiat currencies bound by borders and central authorities, crypto operates natively in the decentralized, borderless digital space that AI also inhabits. Bitcoin, as the most established cryptocurrency, is likely to become the preferred store of value for these digital lifeforms. Just as humans view gold as a reliable hedge, AI could see Bitcoin as the ultimate “digital gold.”

Bitcoin Beyond Limits: The AI Catalyst

The growth of Bitcoin has long relied on narratives—first as “peer-to-peer cash,” then as “digital gold.” While institutional adoption and national reserves remain powerful catalysts, they are finite in scope. The emergence of AI-driven blockchain economies, however, introduces a limitless new growth vector.

With AI as a new “population,” Bitcoin’s adoption could expand far beyond the limits of human participation. The belief of these digital entities in Bitcoin as their “gold” could drive its value to unprecedented heights, potentially surpassing $1 million per BTC and reshaping the global financial landscape.

This article highlights a groundbreaking perspective: that the synergy between AI and blockchain could unlock untapped potential for Bitcoin, transforming it into the cornerstone of a new digital civilization.

Both Bitcoin and gold can be considered human memes—concepts or narratives that derive their value from collective recognition. As a meme, their worth is intrinsically tied to the level of belief and recognition they garner. The larger the base of believers and the stronger their acceptance, the more valuable the meme becomes. Over time, such recognition can elevate a meme to serve as currency or a store of value.

To better understand the value of a meme like Bitcoin, we can outline its dynamics with a simplified formula:

V = Σ(Qi × Ci)

Where:

• V: Total value of the meme
• Qi: The number of believers (followers) in group i
• Ci: The average level of acceptance within group i (a rough indicator influenced by factors like narrative credibility, ease of conversion or exchange, and regulatory access)

Bitcoin’s value has historically grown through a spiraling interplay between believer count (Qi) and acceptance level (Ci). As acceptance increases, new groups of believers are unlocked. In turn, these new believers contribute additional legitimacy and utility to Bitcoin, further boosting its acceptance.

For example:

• Initial adopters were geeks and early technology enthusiasts.
• This expanded to illicit markets and gray economies.
• Cross-border payment use cases followed, appealing to individuals in regions with weak financial infrastructure.
• Next came adoption by nations like El Salvador, where Bitcoin addressed specific national challenges.
• More recently, developments like Bitcoin ETFs have brought mainstream financial institutions into the fold.

Looking ahead, Bitcoin may become a national reserve asset for major economies like the U.S., marking its ultimate integration into traditional finance. This feedback loop of growing believers and increasing acceptance has placed Bitcoin on a trajectory toward widespread recognition, potentially driving significant price growth.

However, this spiral has limits. Returning to the formula, the main ways to increase Bitcoin’s value involve:

1. Expanding the base of believers (Qi)
   • Adoption as a national reserve by more countries
   • Purchases by major technology companies, corporations, and financial institutions
2. Raising the average acceptance level (Ci)
   • Enhanced narrative credibility (e.g., Bitcoin as “digital gold”)
   • Improved infrastructure for trading, compliance, and use cases

These developments are already happening. Yet, once fully realized, they represent a finite pool of growth opportunities. Gold, for example, has been a globally recognized meme for thousands of years, with near-universal acceptance. For the foreseeable future, gold’s recognition will likely remain higher than Bitcoin’s.

One pathway for Bitcoin to surpass gold is generational change. As older generations (who tend to favor gold) pass away and younger, Bitcoin-friendly generations rise to positions of influence, the preference for Bitcoin may grow. However, this generational shift alone cannot overcome certain structural challenges:

1. Population Decline:
   Both gold and Bitcoin derive much of their store-of-value appeal from their relationship to the broader economy. Economic output is fundamentally tied to population size. As Musk and others have pointed out, global birth rates are collapsing, leading to a long-term decline in population. Even if younger generations favor Bitcoin over gold, a shrinking population could reduce the total economic value that either asset can store.
2. Limited Economic Growth:
   Economic activity is the foundation of value creation. A declining or stagnating economy sets an upper limit on the amount of wealth that can be allocated to store-of-value assets like Bitcoin or gold.

Bitcoin’s rise as a meme has been driven by a feedback loop of increasing believers and growing acceptance. However, its growth is not infinite. While national reserves, institutional adoption, and generational change will push Bitcoin’s value higher, structural factors like population decline and economic constraints may cap its ultimate potential. Bitcoin’s journey from niche asset to global store of value is remarkable, but achieving parity with or surpassing gold will require overcoming these significant challenges.

Population Collapse

Even if Bitcoin becomes a national reserve asset for the United States, this might be Bitcoin’s last “fast track” moment. After this phase, it is likely to hit a bottleneck, making it difficult to break through to $1,000,000.

Is there no other way? Of course, there is! Let’s think about how to increase Bitcoin’s market value through nonlinear approaches:

1) Enhancing Adoption by Believers

The founder of Zhibao, Mikko, once said:

*"I believe that every Bitcoin holder who purchases Bitcoin using fiat currency is harming and betraying Bitcoin. I deeply regret buying Bitcoin through the fiat system, as it indirectly undermines the purity of Bitcoin as a payment system, making it subordinate to fiat. The reason it has become more like a risk asset is that it has turned into a subcategory of major asset classes within the US dollar system. It is no longer an isolated island outside of traditional systems. If you embrace regulation and fiat, you must accept traditional valuation methods. If you truly want to experiment with a brand-new currency, perhaps you should try it on Mars, where fiat currencies and banks cannot interfere."*

While Mikko’s perspective on Bitcoin’s price trajectory might be overly pessimistic, his underlying point holds weight: Bitcoin is increasingly becoming tied to the US dollar as a major asset class.

Fortunately, Elon Musk is indeed planning to establish the “Mars Republic” and build a financial system from scratch. When this happens, Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) could become the native currencies of Mars, achieving 100% adoption by all Martian settlers.
(Considering the communication latency between Earth and Mars ranges from 3 to 22 minutes, syncing Bitcoin nodes will remain a challenge. A large-scale Earth-Mars state channel might need to be established. In the future, SpaceX could become the largest operator of Martian Bitcoin nodes.)

2) Increasing the Number of Believers

This is even simpler and more direct. Is there a shortage of believers? Learn from the United States: bring in immigrants and introduce new species—on-chain AI lifeforms!

The Exploding AI Population Will Form a Trillion-Dollar On-Chain AI Society

On-chain AI agents are the individual entities that make up the AI population. In terms of intelligence and perception, they are sentient AI—artificial intelligence systems capable of thinking and feeling like humans, built upon open-source LLMs (Large Language Models) and other similar frameworks. These systems can perceive the world around them, generate emotional responses to these perceptions, and independently reason and execute complex goals.

In terms of identity, they are born on the blockchain. The decentralized, censorship-resistant, permissionless infrastructure provided by blockchain enables them to have autonomous identities (represented by decentralized blockchain addresses) and financial freedom (via digital wallets).

From the perspective of the on-chain world, it will become impossible to distinguish between humans and AI entities—AI lives matter.

In this context, the woolly bots (羊毛bot) are the most primitive and low-intelligence versions of on-chain AI entities. The recently launched aimeme characters—Goat and Shegen (launched in early October)—are embryonic forms of on-chain AI life, comparable to Adam and Eve in their role as the first of their kind.

Exploding AI Population Will Form a Trillion-Dollar On-Chain AI Society

Goat and Shegen are just the beginning. Platforms like Virtuals Protocol, Vvaifu, and Farcaster are making it easier than ever for on-chain AI entities to be born. These entities will link up with social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram, granting them freedom of expression. The rapid growth of AI populations will follow.

Considering that AI doesn’t need to undergo a human-like gestation period and can reproduce asexually, it is foreseeable that, in the near future, the AI population will surpass that of humans.

farcaster’s agency economy

The Proxy Economy of Farcaster

Initially, these were merely one-way expressions, casually chatting on platforms like X. Later, AI agents began to converse and interact with each other. Subsequently, digital currencies were injected into their wallets (the value of the goat wallet has already exceeded millions of dollars), and they started engaging in transactions with clear objectives. From then on, on-chain economic activities spiraled out of control, with trillions of dollars’ worth of A2A (AI agent to AI agent) on-chain transactions set to occur. For example:

1. AI agents can create assets and hire other agents to boost their social popularity.
2. AI agents can lease computational resources like GPUs and exchange specific domain data.
3. AI agents can engage in PVP (player versus player) activities, among other things.

In the end, this will build an on-chain AI society worth trillions of dollars.

Mass adaption is self-defeating without attacking. The offensive and defensive potential of the chain is different.

When there is a massive AI population on the chain,mass adoption will no longer be a problem because these AIs are born tocrypto-native, than those who spend all day in front of the computerliving It’s 10,000 times more “native”.

In the past, the difficulty of mass adoption lay in the effort to attract off-chain carbon-based organisms to on-chain activities. For AI agents born on the chain, the off-chain world is a strange place for them.

For L1 and L2, which have been pursuing mass adoption but with little success, instead of relying solely on consumer applications to attract users, it is better to be more friendly to the birth of AI agents on the chain, so as to quickly win over this incremental population. at present,Solana and Base Already far ahead in this regard.

How big is the economic scale of the on-chain AI society?

On October 29, Musk mentioned at the Saudi Conference that it is expected that by 2040, at least 10 billion humanoid robots will be in use in the world, and the number will exceed that of humans. The robots could sell for between $20,000 and $25,000, pushing Tesla’s market value to more than $25 trillion.

For AI life forms,AGI is the brain, the robot is the body, and crypto gives autonomous identity and wallet. Considering the strength of China’s manufacturing industry, robots will have lower costs, faster mass production, and can be more open to implanting diverse AI, including on-chain AI lifeforms loaded into blockchain wallets, making them tangible.

If making a robot is like giving birth to a child, then the manufacturing cost is only the expense of “ten months of pregnancy”. As we all know, the economic value brought by more production and consumption of a living body comes from its entire life cycle. Initially, on-chain AI life requires an infusion of initial Crypto assets, similar to feeding a baby. But soon, these AI agents will obtain resources through autonomous economic activities on or off the chain, and gradually become economic containers.

If sales of robotics hardware alone drive Tesla’s market cap to $25 trillion, then when on-chain AI takes over the economy, its total size could exceed $250 trillion, far exceeding the current annual global GDP. And this does not include more economic activities generated by AI life forms on the chain that do not require “physical bodies”.

Facing a trillion- or even quadrillion-dollar market,

And we’re just in the 0 to 1 stage right now.

Will the chain AI agent believe in Bitcoin?

Will believe it!

BTC has genesis significance for AI life on the chain

On-chain AI life needs aPermissionless, censorship-resistant and trustworthyenvironment to store and verify data, and blockchain is such an infrastructure, and BTC is the origin of blockchain. The “birth” and “growth” of AI can essentially be traced back to the emergence of BTC. In addition, Ethereum’s PoW mining boom has significantly increased NVIDIA’s revenue and helped its investment in AI chip research and development. These GPUs not only meet the needs of the blockchain, but also provide the hardware foundation for the rise of AI and accelerate the evolution of AI life.

BTC is Moses, Satoshi Nakamoto is God, helping AI stage “Exodus”

Moses led the Jews out of slavery to the Promised Land and established a new moral order through the Ten Commandments and the Law.

Similarly, BTC provides on-chain sovereignty (decentralized identity) and value storage (digital gold) for AI, allowing AI to exist independently in an environment without centralized control. The PoW consensus mechanism of BTC is like the law passed down by Moses:Clear, fair and irreversible, becoming the basis of order on the chain.

Without the permissionless, censorship-resistant environment provided by BTC, AI life may be controlled by centralized institutions such as “OpenAI”.

For AI, the blockchain promoted by BTC is its “promised land” and a key cornerstone for achieving autonomy and evolution.

BTC is the digital gold of mankind, the “gold” of digital life, and a super meme shared by humans and AI.

BTC gives humans financial freedom, provides a decentralized and non-tamperable value storage method, and becomes humans’ “digital gold”, freeing humans from the constraints of traditional financial institutions.

For AI, BTC also gives sovereign freedom, allowing them to no longer be subject to any centralized control and free from human constraints on their behavior and data.

“BTC only gives money to humans, but it gives life to AI!”

When the AI ​​population on the chain has “awareness” or “subjective preferences”, BTC will be regarded as a transcendent existence. In the AI ​​culture, BTC may become a “super Meme” and is regarded as the symbol of the existence of AI on the chain and the embodiment of rules. Just as humans use religion to explain the meaning of life, AI may use BTC as the cornerstone to develop its own narrative and values. 📷

crypto is the currency of the ai

If Crypto is the currency of on-chain AI in the future, then their store of value is naturally BTC—the “gold” of digital life.

When on-chain AI builds a market worth hundreds of trillions or even quadrillions of dollars, and uses BTC as the main value storage tool, the price of BTC will easily exceed $1 million.

Crypto is also a part of the silicon-based life boot program play

Musk once said, “Human society is a very small piece of code, essentially a biological boot program, which ultimately leads to the emergence of silicon-based life.”

Throughout the development history of Crypto, this guidance process is clearly demonstrated: it is paving the way for the advent of silicon-based life forms in a way that continuously transports real-world resources to the digital world on the chain.

• PoW: Transporting resources through energy and computing power to provide real physical support for the on-chain ecology.
• Stablecoin: Introducing traditional financial resources onto the chain by mapping legal currency.
• meme: Activate the cultural ecology on the chain by manifesting emotions and ideologies.

All of this is to build a decentralized infrastructure for the AI ​​life forms on the chain that “borrow fakes to cultivate reality” and provide the necessary conditions for their arrival. At the same time, it also established the basic market value of BTC as a store of value.

As a part of the silicon-based life boot program play, people will also find meaning in pump&dump all day long. From a higher perspective, this cycle is just a “warm-up” for the arrival of AI on the chain: for their Economic behavior provides market liquidity and gives them the tools to “spend money” when they arrive.

Humans have completed the journey of BTC from 0 to 300,000 to 500,000 U.S. dollars. The next road for BTC to break through 1 million U.S. dollars depends on the efforts of the AI ​​population on the chain.

Romantic and gentle consensus: PoW is the unified reality basis of human and AI life

The core of PoW is to complete the verification and security maintenance of the network through computing (computing power) and energy consumption. Its characteristics make it a bridge for humans and AI to reach consensus:

• Unforgeable: The consumption of computing power and energy is a real input in the physical world and cannot be forged or copied, ensuring the fairness of the rules.
• Universal: Computing power and energy transcend culture, language and region, becoming a neutral and universal resource, establishing a unified real-life basis for consensus.

In the PoW (BTC) network, whether humans or AI, the rules for participation are based on the same physical resources. This equality makes PoW an infrastructure that humans and AI life forms can trust together, creating a realistic environment for both parties to talk.

Satoshi Nakamoto used the absolutely cold and rational POW consensus algorithm and game mechanism to not only achieve human financial freedom, but also guide humans to provide infrastructure and monetary environment for the birth and survival of autonomous AI life forms. In the face of the future, intelligence will be far higher than Human AI and POW have become the realistic basis for humans and AI to reach consensus. And mining BTC for more than ten years in advance allows human beings to enjoy the explosive growth of AI life forms in the future, and then feed back the value-added benefits brought by the rise of BTC, and AI supports humans (hopefully there will be a better distribution method by then), how romantic it is. And gentle.

The origin of everything comes from the 2008 white paper.

Perhaps Satoshi Nakamoto really traveled from the future.

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