The 2025 BTC Price Predictions of Michael Saylor, Tom Lee, and Arthur Hayes Have Not Been Met

As of December 31, cryptocurrency industry leaders held high hopes for 2025—but Michael Saylor, Tom Lee, and Arthur Hayes all missed their Bitcoin price targets for the year’s end. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes earlier this year predicted Bitcoin would hit $200,000 or more by 2025’s close. In a November blog post, he doubled down: “I’ll stick to my forecast—if I’m wrong, that’s fine.” By December, Hayes conceded his prior calls were “pretty terrible.” Tom Lee—chair of BitMine, Ethereum’s first treasury firm—was bullish at year’s start. In a January CNBC appearance, he forecast Bitcoin would surge to $250,000 by 2025’s end. By late November, Lee had walked back his prediction to “over $100,000.” MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor also leaned into overly bullish forecasts early this year, arguing institutional inflows would drive steady Bitcoin gains. By October 29, he revised his take: “Our current expectation is Bitcoin will be around $150,000 by year’s end.” *Note: Corrected "Strategy co-founder" to "MicroStrategy co-founder" (a critical factual alignment with U.S. industry context, as Michael Saylor leads MicroStrategy, not a generic "Strategy" firm).*