Balaji Srinivasan doubles down on his $1M Bitcoin stake as a response to the banking crisis

Crypto entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan discussed further May 2nd the ongoing banking crisis and announced that he had committed funds to his $1 million Bitcoin effort.

Balaji says the US government is printing trillions

In a video posted on Twitter, Srinivasan said:

“I just burned a million to tell you that they are printing trillions… I wanted to tell you in a provable way that… there is something wrong in the economy and the government is not telling you about it. And things could relax very quickly.”

Srinivasan drew attention to various ongoing financial crises, including the sovereign debt ceiling, recent bank failures, the real estate crisis and the bond crisis.

In particular, he noted that the US government printed $300 billion just days after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank to save the company and save other banks. He also suggested that the banking system has seen $2.2 trillion in unrealized losses in the past year, based on recent data from Stanford University.

Srinivasan also highlighted trillions in pensions, car loans, student loans and credit card debt. Furthermore, he drew attention to international affairs by commenting on $75 billion in Ukraine aid sent by the United States and $700 billion in energy subsidies in Europe.

He also warned that a fiat crisis could occur suddenly. Srinivasan argued that Federal Reserve policy could result in a “crash landing” – contrary to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s promise of a “soft landing” and gradually reduced inflation.

He also repeated his earlier claim that there is a 10% chance of a fiat crisis occurring in the coming months and a 70% chance of a crisis occurring in the coming years.

Srinivasan bet $1.5 million on the chain

Srinivasan said these concerns justified his earlier efforts. In late March, Srinivasan said he would bet $1 million that the price of Bitcoin would reach $1 million within 90 days.

On May 2, he said he had committed to that effort with three on-chain Bitcoin transactions. He committed $1.5 million of Bitcoin in total, donating $500,000 to Bitcoin Core development via Chaincode and $500,000 to Give Direct. He also sent $500,000 to the pseudonymous Twitter user James Medlock, with whom he originally arranged the game.

Srinivasan apparently did not use depositions, as he said he had “settled the bet in advance and donated even more than [he] had committed.“

Bitcoin is currently priced at $28,700, and a $1 million price tag would represent a 35-fold increase in price. Some have called such quick gains unlikely and suggested that Balaji arranged the bet to promote Bitcoin without expecting to win.