Willy Woo: Bitcoin Is the “Perfect Asset” for the Next 1,000 Years — But Needs Far Bigger Capital Flows
Veteran Bitcoin investor Willy Woo has described Bitcoin as the “perfect asset” for the next millennium, but warned that it won’t rival the US dollar or gold unless it attracts substantially larger capital inflows.
Speaking at the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 conference in Riga, Latvia, Woo said:
“You don’t get to change the world unless this monetary asset — in my opinion, the perfect asset for the next thousand years — gets big enough to rival the US dollar.”
Currently, Bitcoin’s market cap stands at $2.42 trillion, just under 11% of gold’s $23 trillion market cap, while the US dollar’s money supply sits at $21.9 trillion.
Bitcoin Treasury Adoption: Opportunity and Risk
Woo pointed to two major obstacles preventing Bitcoin from achieving world reserve status.
First, the rise of Bitcoin treasury firms has accelerated adoption, but the lack of transparency around their debt structures could lead to a “treasury bubble.”
“The weak ones will blow up, and people can lose a lot of money,” he warned, adding that altcoin treasuries are now copying the same playbook, potentially creating another speculative bubble.
He also questioned what would happen to these treasuries in a bear market:
“Who’s swimming naked, and how many coins get dumped back into the market?”
Nation-State Risks from Custodial Bitcoin
Woo expressed concern that growing reliance on spot Bitcoin ETFs, pension funds, and custodial services such as Coinbase Custody could place large amounts of Bitcoin within easy reach of governments, raising the possibility of a nation-state “rug-pull.”
While these on-ramps bring significant capital into Bitcoin, Woo said the investors with “the money bags” aren’t self-custodying their holdings — increasing systemic risk if governments intervene.
Self-Custody Expected to Spread
Max Kei, CEO of Bitcoin self-custody platform Debifi, predicted that self-custody adoption will spread in stages — from large custodians to businesses and eventually to individual users.
“Companies will learn how to self-custody, and then individuals within those companies will adopt it. Eventually, it spreads massively,” Kei said.
Corporate Bitcoin Integration Still Logical
Despite Woo’s warnings, Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, argued that companies remain the most logical entry point for Bitcoin adoption.
He said businesses should use Bitcoin’s expected returns as a benchmark:
“If a company can’t beat Bitcoin, they should close up shop and buy Bitcoin.”
Back added that firms with strong core operations can still thrive by integrating Bitcoin into their strategy, even if they aren’t solely focused on crypto.
