The $1 million bitcoin bet Discussion of where the digital coin's price could go this year has been rife since Balaji Srinivasan, an investor and the former technology chief at Coinbase, wagered on Mar. 17 that bitcoin would be worth $1 million or more in 90 days. He bet $2 million. The wager was in response to a Twitter user who said that they would bet $1 million that the U.S. does not enter hyperinflation. Srinivasan argued that the "world redenominates on Bitcoin as digital gold" as hyperinflation kicks in, erodes the value of the U.S. dollar, and nations, individuals and companies begin to buy large amounts of bitcoin. Hyperinflation is the massive rise in prices in an economy.

Lim is hardly the only founder whose fortune skyrocketed during the pandemic and has since come back to Earth. The period minted at least five billionaires in the protective-gear sector alone, including Thai Kim Sim of Supermax, which surged at an even faster pace than Top Glove, not to mention scores of newly rich tech executives and cryptocurrency holders. 

“The defendant says he did not receive any resignation letter from the plaintiff and did not receive any indication that the plaintiff wished to resign.” According to the father, he decided in 2012 that his children should play a larger role in the company, and appointed his daughter and his son as directors of the company at the same time.

Marshall Beard, chief strategy officer at U.S.-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, said $100,000 could be a possibility for bitcoin. "I think bitcoin probably breaks all-time highs this year," Beard said, adding that the $100,000 price figure is an "interesting number." Beard said that if bitcoin gets to its previous record high of near $69,000, "it doesn't take much more for it to lift up" to $100,000. Bitcoin would need to rally around 270% to hit $100,000. Paolo Ardoino, chief technology officer at stablecoin issuer Tether, said bitcoin could "retest" its all-time high near $69,000.

All the while, the value of Lim and his family’s stake in Top Glove slipped: From US$6 billion at its peak in October 2020, to US$4.5 billion four months later, to US$1.6 billion in January. Then last month came the final blow: A 99 per cent plunge in Top Glove’s profit, enough to put those expansion plans on hold. The results are “almost close to the bottom,” Lim said.

But he claimed he turned it down when the father verbally offered him another 60 per cent shares in the company and 60 per cent of the properties – something the older man disputes. “On the other hand, the defendant (father) denies having ever made such an offer to the plaintiff or having entered into the alleged oral agreement with the plaintiff,” Justice Hoo said in her judgment.

In 2003, the property in Tampines was bought by one of the father’s companies. The son told the court he was appointed CEO in 2004, and he claimed that the business boomed under him. The defendant, however, said his son was “not substantively involved” in setting up the company, and that he saw it as a family business and wanted his five children to be involved in it. His son only started working in the company in 2003 after getting his master’s degree. In 2004, the father agreed to make his son CEO as he “wanted to groom” his son to take over.

Its stock price soared 450 per cent through the first seven months of 2020, leaving high-flyers like Moderna, Zoom Video Communications Peloton Interactive and Carvana in the dust and making Lim a billionaire several times over. The maker of one out of every four gloves in the world said in September 2020 it expected “fresh highs” after profit surged 1,500 per cent. By June 2021, as vaccines rolled out across the globe and more competitors entered the market, that guidance shifted to a gradual decline in selling prices. The company vowed six months later to press forward with an expansion, undeterred by its stock tumbling back to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Tether's Ardoino echoed the sentiment that if bitcoin were to hit $1 million in 90 days, it would likely mean an unusual economic event. "I'm kind of skeptical about that, because honestly, I wouldn't even hope for that," Ardoino told CNBC in an interview at Paris Blockchain Week, that aired Thursday. "Because if bitcoin would reach such a high price level, [it] would mean that the entire economy will crumble. I'm not sure [that] is the world that we want to live in."

Broader markets fluctuated in the past week after a handful of US lenders failed, and fresh concerns arose around Credit Suisse Group AG before UBS Group AG agreed to buy its fellow Swiss bank on Sunday. In the fallout, some investors have called on the Fed to pause interest rate hikes. But midweek data showed that core CPI advanced more than expected, a reminder that the fight against inflation is far from done. It’s unclear how the central bank will respond to the conflicting signals at this week’s Fed meeting.