Bitcoin: El Salvador’s president makes some bold predictions for 2022

El Salvador President expects bitcoin to reach $100,000 in 2022, among other predictions

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, we are seeing Bitcoin trading lower right now, still below that $50,000 handle. But El Salvador's president says the price could more than double by the end of the year. His call for Bitcoin to reach $100,000, one of many crypto predictions, Zack, that he has offered up for the new year. There's some interesting ones. Because, of course, we're talking about Nayib Bukele because his country was the first to adopt crypto, or Bitcoin, as legal tender there. He's saying there's two other countries that will come into the fold this year.

ZACK GUZMAN: That's one of his predictions. And of course, I don't know, if you were a betting person, you'd probably put the bet on it being a developing economy. And, you know, we've seen that kind of floated around in some of the Latin American countries as well, dealing with their own inflation issues. And you know, some of these other retail-- or some of these other predictions, when it comes to what he sees playing out for Bitcoin, of course, as a country that has so much now invested in Bitcoin, it wouldn't hurt to see it reach $100,000.

And of course, the other big thing that he pointed to, which was interesting to see an outsider kind of put on their list if you are from El Salvador, Bitcoin becoming a major electoral issue in the US elections this year. And Akiko, I mean, I think that one's spot on. It's been interesting to see Republicans, Democrats take different sides of that debate. When we talk about, I guess, personal liberty and banking regulation in this country, it's become a hot button issue that has weirdly some strange alliances being formed between Republicans and Democrats on different sides of the issue.

How many issues do you have Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren agreeing on? Not many, but they are on the same side when it comes to really raking in crypto, so I think that one's right.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, strange alliances is right. But I'm not so sure you can call it a major issue in the US elections. I might be wrong. But to me, it feels like it's still going to be about the everyday inflationary pressures, controlling COVID, you know, those are going to be the key issues. But you're right. I mean, it's certainly become more and more-- come more and more to the forefront in discussions in DC. And we've seen that play out, especially tied to the infrastructure bill, too.

So it'll be interesting to see how that narrative shifts. Because there's so many things that are still uncertain on this front, regulation a big one we're going to be watching for this year. But we'll see if it becomes a major issue in the US elections. That would certainly be a first.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, look, you know, I'm no politician. You're not a politician. But when we look at maybe how some of these things become the ones that people care about, you know, there are certain fringe concepts that get brought into the fold. And all of a sudden, it's really where the two parties start to differentiate themselves on. So, I mean, that is one thing that is relatively new is we haven't seen leaders in these political parties, until recently, start to take positions and really push.

And now also Akiko, on top of that, huge amounts of money flowing into kind of lobbying and trying to get either one politician on their side versus some others. And that's not to even speak about what the banks are also trying to do now in terms of their own lobbying efforts and really making sure that they're the ones still in control, if this is going to continue to be a booming space. So I think all of that shaking out will be interesting to watch in 2022.

No word though, really, on what kind of pricing pressure that might have. Of course, all these things are volatile and a very different start to the year than what we saw play out last year. It was a huge run-up in Bitcoin prices. It had that enthusiasm carrying over into the new year. It's the first day, so early yet. Granted, we had the weekend, too, because Bitcoin and crypto never sleeps, but not exactly the hottest start relative to what we saw last year.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, you're certainly right about that. We're going to be watching--