Kevin O'Leary (케빈 오리어리) forecast that bitcoin could rise to $1 million over the long term. He stressed, however, that institutional investors would need concerns resolved over a so-called “Q-Day,” when quantum computers could neutralise bitcoin’s cryptography, before they add bitcoin on a large scale as a core asset.

On Sept. 18, blockchain outlet Decrypt reported that O'Leary appeared on “The Rollup” podcast during the Avalanche Summit in New York and spoke about bitcoin’s long-term upside and the risks of quantum computing.

Asked whether bitcoin could reach $1 million, O'Leary answered positively but said quantum computing is a key variable. He said concerns must be addressed that quantum computers could break bitcoin’s algorithms, chain and encryption system.

He said institutional allocations to bitcoin are also tied to this issue. Large institutions currently treat bitcoin not as a core portfolio asset but as an asset that replaces part of gold, he said. O'Leary has previously said large funds generally cap bitcoin allocations at around 3 percent.

O'Leary said his own investment strategy, once centred on bitcoin and ethereum, has also changed. He said he used to think that investing in the two assets captured most of the crypto industry’s upside potential, but now acknowledges that view was wrong.

He said he is focusing on the possibility that the blockchain market develops toward choosing different blockchains by industry rather than converging on a single network. Avalanche could be chosen in the sports memorabilia market, while another blockchain could be selected for the tokenised equities market, he said.

On ethereum, he said it was his personal view that it is not sufficient in terms of speed and security. As blockchains emerge to meet industry-specific demands, he said, real-world adoption cases could determine the value of each network going forward.

Behind that outlook are also regulatory changes at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to tokenised stocks. O'Leary said tokenisation is not limited to the crypto industry and could change the structure of traditional financial markets themselves.

He said digital assets and the digitalisation sector could become a new infrastructure area that supports existing industries in the U.S. stock market. He also described onchain migration of real-world assets as part of the same trend. Collectible assets such as sports cards could also see broader structures for blockchain-based trading and custody, he said.

O'Leary said that in his AI investment strategy, he is choosing to invest in underlying infrastructure rather than picking winners among individual technologies. He cited electricity as core infrastructure for the AI industry and said he is investing in power grids and power projects.

He said holdings include Bitzero, which shifted from a bitcoin mining company to a Nasdaq-listed power company, and private power projects in the Alberta and Utah regions. He also said that for the first time in his investing career he has invested in physical uranium. He said he invested in uranium itself as reactor fuel, considering rising U.S. data-centre power demand and the possibility that small modular reactors, or SMRs, spread.

On U.S. crypto regulation, he forecast that it would be difficult for Congress to pass a clarity bill before the midterm elections. He said a bill determining which regulator will oversee crypto trading could be discussed again after the election in a bipartisan form.

O'Leary’s outlook combined a long-term bullish view on bitcoin with caution about technological risks. While he mentioned the possibility of bitcoin reaching $1 million, he set the condition that the cryptography threat from quantum computing must be resolved first for a full-scale inflow of institutional money.

He also forecast that if tokenisation and industry-specific blockchain adoption expand, the crypto market’s growth drivers may not be concentrated only in a handful of large assets such as bitcoin and ethereum.