- Bitcoin has created around 145,100 millionaires so far, growing at an estimated 50% CAGR from 2017–2025 and still carrying aggressive long-term targets like $1M per coin.
- Ethereum has grown at roughly 33% CAGR, with some analysts eyeing $20K as a realistic upper target, offering big upside but still less than Bitcoin’s potential 10x from current levels.
- Both assets will likely see slower growth over time, but if you can handle volatility and think long term, Bitcoin still looks like the stronger primary bet, with Ethereum acting as a powerful high-upside complement.
Bitcoin and Ethereum have built a track record that honestly feels impossible at times, stacked with parabolic runs, brutal crashes, and those almost myth-like price targets investors keep throwing around for the next decade. Over the past ten years, the crypto market has basically turned into a place where regular people can — with the right timing (and a bit of luck) — hit millionaire status.
Henley & Partners’ latest Crypto Wealth Report even puts a number to it: 241,700 crypto millionaires exist right now. And out of those, 145,100 came from Bitcoin alone, which makes you wonder… is BTC still the most reliable path to long-term wealth? Or is Ethereum sneaking up as the faster route? It’s not as simple as picking a side, but let’s walk through the real picture.
Bitcoin’s decade-long compounding machine
If there’s one thing BTC does better than any other asset on the planet, it’s compounding. Year after year, with just a few ugly exceptions, Bitcoin has moved higher. Since 2010, it’s only posted three losing years — 2014, 2018, and 2022. Everything else has basically been fireworks.
Between 2017 and 2025, Bitcoin delivered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 50%, which sounds borderline ridiculous when you remember that two of those years involved massive crashes. But BTC’s good years are so explosive that the bad years get swallowed up in the curve.
This is how investor expectations get a little wild — at the start of the year, people casually assumed Bitcoin would double from $100K to $200K. It didn’t happen, but it did tag a new all-time high near $126K in October… so the optimism doesn’t feel totally misplaced.
Ethereum’s run hasn’t been small either
ETH has followed a similar rhythm, just with a different beat. Its CAGR since 2017 sits closer to 33%, and like Bitcoin, it tends to follow a four-year cycle: three powerful years, one year that feels like a kick in the teeth. After climbing 472% in 2020 and 395% in 2021, Ethereum gave most of it back in 2022 with a brutal 68% drawdown.
Still, calling that “underperforming” feels unfair. Ethereum grew from a niche experiment into the backbone of smart contracts, DeFi, tokenization… you name it.
Looking forward: the millionaire-maker debate
Now, future projections get a little more opinion-heavy, but they matter. This is where analysts start estimating total addressable markets, institutional demand, and how big each network could realistically get.
On pure upside potential, Bitcoin still holds the psychological edge. The most common long-term target?
$1,000,000 per BTC within five years.
That target isn’t coming from random influencers either — Cathie Wood (ARK Invest), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), and Jack Dorsey (Block) all stand behind versions of the same thesis.
Is it crazy? Maybe. But Bitcoin already went:
$1 → $10 → $100 → $1,000 → $10,000 → $100,000
…all in under 15 years. So asking whether it can go from $100K to $1M doesn’t sound as unhinged as it once did.
Ethereum’s most aggressive targets generally land near $20,000, which is still huge — roughly a 6x from today’s $3,150 price. But it’s not the same as Bitcoin’s potential 10x run.
The slowdown everyone forgets about
Here’s the thing people don’t like to hear: both assets are going to slow down eventually. It’s kind of unavoidable. If Bitcoin is truly digital gold, at some point its return profile should start behaving like… well, gold. And if Ethereum is closer to a “global tech platform,” then it may behave like a fast-growing tech stock — slower than early crypto, faster than commodities.
That actually opens the door for ETH to outperform BTC later. Tech tends to outgrow gold long-term. But whether that applies cleanly to crypto? We don’t really know yet; the asset class is still too young.
So which has the better shot at minting the next millionaires?
Honestly? Bitcoin probably still wears the crown.
- It has the strongest track record.
- It has the largest number of existing millionaires.
- It has the most convincing 10x runway over the next cycle.
But that doesn’t mean Ethereum is a weak choice. Far from it — ETH still has huge upside, massive utility, and arguably a more diversified future.
What’s certain is this: crypto volatility isn’t going away. If you can stomach the swings and stick to a long-term view, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have already proven they can dramatically reward patience.
There’s no guaranteed path to becoming a millionaire — but as 145,100 Bitcoin holders can tell you, your odds get a lot higher if you’re willing to stay in the game.
