Despite a severe downturn, public blockchains continue to foster multiple revolutions; one of them is Bitcoin, says ARK Invest in its 2023 "Big Ideas" research report.

That's why the bitcoin (BTC) currency, in the eyes of ARK, is still predicted to close the decade at $1 million because its fundamentals are sound – despite a turbulent 2022.

“Contagion caused by centralized counterparties has elevated Bitcoin’s value propositions: decentralization, auditability and transparency,” ARK writes. “Its network fundamentals have strengthened and its holder base has become more long-term focused.”

ARK backs up this claim by pointing to a higher hashrate, long-term holder supply and addresses with a non-zero balance compared to the prior downturns.

Because of this fundamental soundness, ARK says, bitcoin continues to outperform traditional asset classes.

On a five-year CAGR basis, bitcoin is up an average of 272% while global equities are up by 6.1%, global debt provided a yield of 1.4% and gold is up by 2.2%.

This isn’t the first time that ARK or its CEO, Cathie Wood, have made such bold predictions on bitcoin’s upwards trajectory. In May 2021, Wood made her first bold price prediction during an interview on Bloomberg, predicting bitcoin will go to $500,000 by 2026. In early 2022, she then upped the ante to $1 million by 2030.

ARK has also been quite bullish on Coinbase (COIN) throughout December and January, continuing to enlarge its COIN position by buying around $30 million shares.

COIN is up 74% in the last month, outperforming bitcoin.

While Wood and ARK are known for their positions and opinions on bitcoin, the report also touched on smart contracts and decentralized finance.

“As the value of tokenized financial assets grows on-chain, decentralized applications and the smart contract networks that power them could generate $450 billion in annual revenue and reach $5.3 trillion in market value by 2030,” according to the Ark report.

ARK’s Innovation ETF (ARKK) is up 31% in the last month, while its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) is up 32%.