Recently, the crypto world has been abuzz with two major pieces of news—one from the founder of a leading exchange, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who publicly stated that “new all-time highs will come soon,” and another from Elon Musk, who is eyeing the US’s $38.3 trillion debt hole and declaring that Bitcoin will become a “lifeboat” in times of crisis. With both of these heavyweights speaking out almost simultaneously, the market immediately went wild.

Let’s start with CZ. On social media, he bluntly predicted: “There will be more all-time highs soon, just not sure exactly when.” Don’t underestimate the weight of this statement—last year, when he said the bull market hadn’t started yet, Bitcoin skyrocketed from $60,000 all the way to $120,000. Within less than an hour after this latest remark, $370 million in long positions poured into the derivatives market, showing that traders clearly don’t dare ignore his judgment.

Musk’s angle is even more aggressive. He believes that America’s astronomical debt is a “ticking time bomb,” with an annual deficit of $2 trillion and interest payments alone exceeding the defense budget. His logic is: Bitcoin is pegged to energy, and energy can’t be manipulated through legislation, so when the fiat system collapses, BTC will become the most reliable store of value. He even predicts that “the concept of money will disappear, and energy will be the real wealth.”

Interestingly, though these two perspectives come from different starting points, they’re pointing in the same direction. CZ is betting on the cyclical inertia of crypto, while Musk is betting on the structural risks of the traditional financial system. And it seems institutional money is already voting with real dollars—Bank of America is recommending clients allocate 4% of their assets to Bitcoin, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund is quietly entering the market, and MicroStrategy just accumulated another 388 BTC last week, unfazed by short-term swings.

Right now, Bitcoin has just pulled back from $120,000 to just above $100,000, sitting at a critical juncture. Whose prediction do you think will drive this round of the market—CZ’s cyclical experience or Musk’s crisis intuition? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.