They said Bitcoin was dead. Now it’s $126K

Bitcoin just smashed through a new all-time high of $125,000. Not bad for a so-called “failed experiment.” Over the years, critics have called it everything from a joke to a Ponzi scheme. Let’s revisit nine bold claims that didn’t age well.

Bitcoin price chart from Binance showing its 2025 all-time high of $125,000 on 6th October 2025. Photo: Binance

1. ‘Bitcoin has failed’ – ECB | $51,304.97

In a blog post by Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf published on European Central Bank, the two economists expressed Bitcoin’s “failure” on the promise to be a global decentralized digital currency, when it’s “hardly” used for legitimate transfers, despite the ETF's approval.

Spoiler: the only failure here was the forecast.

2. ‘BlackRock will completely destroy Bitcoin’ – Forbes | $42,520

In a Medium blog post, Arthur Hayes, Bitcoin and crypto trader, said “if ETFs managed by asset managers are too successful, they will completely destroy Bitcoin.”

ETF? More like "Extremely Thriving Fund."

3. ‘Sayonara Bitcoin’ – Twitter | $24,746.07

In 2023, Robin Brooks, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in a X tweet, “it turns out  that Bitcoin is just another bubble asset that blows up when the Fed gets serious about hiking interest rates.” He bid “Sayonara Bitcoin,” claiming it had zero store of value function, no diversification benefit, and no yield.

He said Sayonara, Bitcoin said 10x.

4. ‘Bitcoin is a joke wrapped in a fraud’ – Express | $24,436.35

In an op-ed, Harvey Jones, a finance editor, described Bitcoin as a “pathetic and fake currency” that was the worst to happen in the investment world during his lifetime.

“They are a joke wrapped in a fraud and Ponzi scheme, and sold as a get-rich-quick investment opportunity,” he wrote. 

Jones also expressed how he is unable to see much evidence of the underlying blockchain technology and its practical uses, and even if he did, it still wouldn't have justified the crypto hype.

“At its peak in November 2021, so-called altcoins had a total market capitalization of an incredible $3trillion. That’s the same as the UK’s annual total economic output. All that for a digital currency that isn’t backed by any central bank, has zero security and can vanish in a second with no redress.”

That joke's worth about $125K now – hope you’re still laughing.

5. ‘Bitcoin is a hyped-up fraud’ – CNBC | $21,086.79

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO, joined CNBC to discuss his thoughts on cryptocurrencies and the blockchain behind them, where he described Bitcoin as a “hyped-up fraud” with an uncertain supply limit.

Despite acknowledging blockchain’s distributed ledger system that allows the movement of information securely Dimon was sceptical of Bitcoin’s value and the 21-million-coin cap, implying that its pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision might be unreliable or manipulated. 

Dimon keeps dunking. Bitcoin keeps banking.

6. ‘Bitcoin is dead as predicted’ – seeking alpha | $19,987.03

The founder of Terra, Do Kwon, was at the center of the LUNA collapse controversy, said of his Terra stablecoin: “I still believe that decentralized economies deserve decentralized money – but it is clear that $UST in its current form will not be that money.”

From his view, Kwon believed that Bitcoin has reached the same fate as failed projects like Terra/LUNA – lost investor confidence, missed its chance at mass adoption, and now sits as a symbol of unfulfilled promises in the crypto world.

In the wake of the LUNA collapse, some commentators compared Bitcoin’s volatility to failed crypto experiments. One article even claimed Bitcoin had gone the way of UST, “dead as predicted.”

Wrong again, Do.

7. ‘Bitcoin is a failed experiment’ | $19,413.55

In an X post, Mark Dow wrote about how there are still many who hope that bitcoin is not a “failed” experiment.

“It’s over,” Dow stressed. 

Mark it down: it wasn’t over.

8. ‘Bitcoin is on the road to irrelevance’ – ECB | $17,168.57

In a blogpost published by the European Central Bank, Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf warned that Bitcoin’s brief price stabilization in 2022 wasn’t a sign of strength, but rather the calm before a permanent decline. In their view, Bitcoin was no longer gaining relevance – it was losing it, and quickly.

At that time, the value of Bitcoin had peaked at $69,000 in November 2021 before falling to $17,000 by mid-June 2022. Since then, the value has fluctuated around $20,000. According to Bindseil and Schaaf, “this was already foreseeable before FTX went bust and sent the Bitcoin price to well below $16,000.

Funny how the road to irrelevance leads straight to Wall Street.

9. ‘Bitcoin will go negative’ – Spotify | $16,955.08

In a Spotify episode, Peter Zeihan, a geopolitical strategist, speaker, and author, said “if crypto is in the process of going to zero, Bitcoin will probably go negative because if we’re moving into a world with carbon taxes, you must consider the energy to produce it in the first place.”

Negative? Only the vibes in that podcast.

Bitcoin breaks new ATH in 2025

From media pundits to central banks, many tried to call time on Bitcoin. But markets, not headlines, decide what survives – and 2025 has made that clearer than ever.

Fast-forward to July 14, Bitcoin surged past $122,000 ahead of the U.S. “crypto week,” notching repeated all-time highs and attracting record-breaking institutional inflows. ETFs like BlackRock’s IBIT are pulling in billions. Once BTC crossed the $100K mark, the noise started to fade.

The critics who once shouted are now strangely quiet.

These nine quotes aren’t just bad predictions. They’re reminders of how disruptive ideas are often mocked – until they become too big to ignore.

For now, the score stands: Bitcoin – 9, Critics – 0.