Here's Why Bitcoin Won't Go to Zero

Key Points
It's reasonable to worry that Bitcoin will lose a lot of value.
But it isn't reasonable to be worried that it'll go right to $0.
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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has publicly been called dead by well-known commentators at least 471 times since 2010, according to the BitcoinDeaths data aggregator service, and each one of those obituaries was written with conviction. Yet each one was wrong. Now, with the coin still smarting from its painful collapse that started with the Oct. 10, 2025, flash crash, online searches for "Bitcoin going to zero" have once again hit record levels.
But there's a reason the doomsayers keep getting proven incorrect, and the structural floor beneath Bitcoin's price is far sturdier than is generally known -- including in a cheeky technical way that the bears are unlikely to appreciate. Let's explore why Bitcoin is unlikely to ever go to zero.
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The case against ever going to zero
For Bitcoin's price to reach a stone-cold $0.00, all of the largest holders on the planet would need to try to sell it, and then, in the same period, it would be necessary for no buyer to show up at any price.
The existence of price-insensitive buyers with massive amounts of capital on hand mostly rules that out. For instance, the digital asset treasury (DAT) company Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, holds more than 761,000 coins, roughly 3.6% of all Bitcoin that will ever exist, and it's constantly purchasing more and more regardless of whether the price is up or down.
Other classes of holders, like governments, Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers, and corporate treasuries, are also unlikely to completely dump their holdings all at the same time. Plus, an estimated 20% of Bitcoin's supply is permanently lost, so it simply can't be sold.
Furthermore, the coin has already suffered multiple 80% declines, after which it formed a price floor, attracted new buyers, and eventually recovered to set new all-time highs. In March 2020, Bitcoin lost roughly half its value in a week as pandemic panic triggered global liquidation, and it recovered within months.
Buyers of last resort are already in position
The final reason that Bitcoin will never go to zero is that some of Bitcoin's most ardent and longtime evangelists, like Blockstream CEO Adam Back, have taken it upon themselves to guarantee that it's simply impossible as long as the crypto market's basic infrastructure is still functioning.
They've publicly placed standing buy orders at rock-bottom prices, such as $0.01 and $0.02 per coin, on major crypto exchanges. Those orders have been known about for a handful of years already, and they're mostly intended as jokes. Joke or not, the point is that people with plenty of capital are on standby to scoop up vast quantities of cheap coins, and the cheaper the coins get, the more they'll be willing to buy.
So don't get fixated on the risk of Bitcoin going to zero; it's not going to happen. Of course, it could still go down by quite a lot, so be sure to keep your portfolio diversified regardless.
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Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.