This opinion was expressed for the Russian media by Oleg Vyugin, former First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia.
The cryptocurrency market is seriously monopolized, so bitcoin is unlikely to replace gold or become a full-fledged alternative to it in the coming years, Vyugin says.
In theory, bitcoin can catch up with gold in terms of capitalization, the banker said. However, the high manipulability of this digital currency and its dependence on large players – “whales” – make prices on the market unpredictable.
At the same time, bitcoin’s finite issuance (limited supply at the program level) gives it an advantage over the dollar. “The bitcoin issue is finite, so the asset expressed in bitcoins is not subject to inflationary depreciation,” the expert emphasized.
According to Vyugin’s forecast, the value of the same share fixed in bitcoins at the beginning of 2026 and at the beginning of 2031 will be roughly comparable. This means that with the growth of the cryptocurrency rate, the investor increases the income in dollar equivalent, preserving the intrinsic value of the asset itself.
For these reasons, bitcoin will grow against the dollar in the long term, he believes.
