The Million-Year Declaration

Here's a fun lesson in market timing: back in December 2022, Jim Cramer went on television and announced he'd dumped all his cryptocurrency holdings. Not some of them. All of them. And he wasn't planning a comeback.

"I sold all my crypto. I announced everything on TV, what I did with crypto," the "Mad Money" host declared on CNBC on December 23. "I wouldn't touch crypto in a million years."

The context matters here. The FTX exchange had just spectacularly imploded that fall, dragging Bitcoin (BTC) down to $16,000 and triggering what everyone was calling "Crypto Winter." Sam Bankman-Fried, once the golden boy of crypto, was arrested following FTX's bankruptcy. The market was in shambles, just a year after celebrating new highs. Cramer's sentiment reflected the broader panic: "The faith of the American people has been shaken," he said at the time.

Taking Shots at "Blind Faith"

Cramer didn't stop at announcing his exit. He had words for those who kept their coins on unregulated trading platforms.

"If you have your money in any of those, look, I'm not calling you an idiot. I'm just saying you're using a lot of blind faith," he said.

It was a pretty definitive stance during a genuinely scary moment for crypto investors.

The Inverse Cramer Trade Strikes Again?

So what happened next? Bitcoin was trading at $16,796 when Cramer made those remarks. Three years later, it's sitting at $86,805—a gain of 416%.

If you'd ignored Cramer's advice and bought when he sold, you'd be feeling pretty good about that decision right now. The "Inverse Cramer" theory—the internet's favorite tongue-in-cheek trading strategy—would have worked spectacularly in this case.

Of course, there's no definitive proof that inversing Cramer is actually a profitable long-term strategy. Do your own research and all that.

The Plot Twist

Here's where it gets interesting: Cramer sounds like a completely different person today. Last week, he said he wants Bitcoin specifically, not derivatives or Bitcoin treasury companies. Earlier this year, he advocated for Bitcoin as a hedge against escalating U.S. national debt, stating he was buying a lot himself.

That's quite the evolution from "wouldn't touch it in a million years."

The Bigger Picture

Before you get too smug about the 416% gain, let's add some perspective. While Bitcoin has crushed it over the three-year timeframe, its recent performance is less impressive. The cryptocurrency has wiped out all its 2025 gains in the current slump and trades 31% below its all-time highs.

So maybe Cramer's initial pessimism wasn't completely unfounded—just poorly timed. Or maybe his current optimism is similarly timed. The crypto market has a way of humbling everyone eventually, whether you're a million-years-never bear or a national-debt-hedge bull.

The real takeaway? Market commentary is entertainment, not prophecy. And a million years is a long time to change your mind.