Bitcoin turns 18 as a sound asset for investors, institutions and governments

Ouriel Ohayon, director of crypto assets at etoro, on the anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, commemorated today, Saturday, October 31.

The evolution of Bitcoin: from invention to digital infrastructure

At 18, Bitcoin’s original promise is gaining even more strength in an economy driven by artificial intelligence (AI). As markets and society increasingly rely on digital and technological experiences, the world needs a native digital currency that anyone, anywhere, can access, including AI agents.

Turning 18 marks coming of age, but not necessarily full maturity. Today, Bitcoin is recognized as a sound asset by retail investors as well as institutions and governments, thanks to its fundamental characteristics: it is decentralized, has global reach and is digitally accessible across borders. The next stage is its mass adoption worldwide and its consolidation as a strategic reserve currency for governments and central banks.

After 18 years, the biggest challenge remains self-custody. Poor security models, outdated seed phrase systems, fragmented recovery mechanisms and bad security practices put the premise of “not your keys, not your coins” at risk. Bitcoin’s future depends not only on its adoption, but also on an infrastructure capable of withstanding critical threats, including quantum attacks. These represent a long-term risk, especially given the rise of AI and the emergence of vulnerabilities at breakneck speed. The community will need to adapt and implement a codebase that guarantees the protection of private keys.

Over the next decade, Bitcoin can be expected to be integrated at scale into the financial ecosystem: governments will continue to accumulate active reserves in BTC, just as they do with gold or the US dollar, and major asset managers will include BTC in their clients’ portfolios. This growing adoption by such entities will legitimize Bitcoin in the eyes of the general public, transforming it from a speculative asset into a fundamental pillar of the global financial system, which operates around the clock. We expect Bitcoin to remain a central element as finance moves onto the blockchain and assets become tokenized. A true Bitcoin-centric economy will emerge when the volatility associated with BTC is controlled in a manner similar to that of a mature currency.

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