Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back said in a CNBC interview posted on Nov. 11, 2026, that the main wave of institutional demand for bitcoin has not yet begun. He also said professionally managed capital could help drive substantial demand over the next few years, while bitcoin could surpass $1 million before the current market cycle ends.

Back said he had personally bet on bitcoin reaching seven figures by the end of the cycle, a point commonly associated with the end of 2028.

“I have a bet on for Bitcoin to top a million by the end of the cycle,” Back said.

Potential institutional demand

Back estimated that most potential demand from institutional investors and professionally managed investment products remains ahead.

“We’re still 95% or more of that to come in the following years,” Back said.

He described the figure as his own estimate of the future market rather than a measured data point.

Back said future demand could come from mutual funds and model investment portfolios operated by large asset managers, including BlackRock. Such products could provide bitcoin exposure not only to investors who buy cryptocurrency directly, but also to a broader group of savers whose money is overseen by professional managers.

He cautioned against interpreting spot Bitcoin ETF flows as a straightforward measure of investors’ long-term outlook. Some inflows and outflows may be linked to technical strategies, including basis trading, rather than changes in long-term sentiment toward bitcoin, he said.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $1.28 billion in net outflows over the preceding week.

Back also described bitcoin as digital gold whose value is supported by limited supply. The CNBC interview description noted that bitcoin’s 200-week moving average was near $67,000 at the time of the conversation.

Long-term forecasts and risks

Back’s forecast is more bullish than some other long-term projections cited by market participants. VanEck previously said bitcoin could reach $3 million by 2050 if it gains broad adoption in global trade, while Bitwise raised its 10-year forecast to $1.6 million.

JPMorgan Asset Management, meanwhile, incorporated an average annual bitcoin return of 10% into its long-term model for the next decade.

Analysts have cited bitcoin’s underperformance against the stock market and competition for speculative capital among its shorter-term risks. Bloomberg analysts also said bitcoin was losing its status as the primary risk asset as it underperformed equities.

Back emphasized longer-term demand and bitcoin’s scarcity. He also said advances in artificial intelligence could create threats for cryptocurrency exchanges and online services, but may not pose the same danger to the Bitcoin protocol itself.

Source: Incrypted