Bitcoin Price Adjusted for Inflation
Adjusted with the US consumer price index (CPI-U, latest: August 2026), bitcoin's highest daily close is $128,797 in today's dollars, set on 6 October 2025. At today's price of $81,520, bitcoin is 36.7% below its inflation-adjusted high. Because bitcoin's price history is short and its moves are huge, inflation changes the picture far less than for gold: US prices have risen about 41% since 2014, while bitcoin has risen many times over.
Updated Oct 22, 2026, 15:37 UTC · CPI to August 2026
Bitcoin in today's dollars vs the price at the time
Key moments in today's dollars
| Day | Price then | Today's $ | Today vs then |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 September 2014 First daily close in the data (Yahoo Finance BTC-USD) |
$457.33 | $643.60 | +12,566% |
| 16 December 2017 Peak of the 2017 bull market |
$19,497 | $26,493 | +208% |
| 15 December 2018 Low of the 2018 bear market |
$3,237 | $4,316 | +1,789% |
| 12 March 2020 March 2020 pandemic crash |
$4,971 | $6,451 | +1,164% |
| 8 November 2021 Peak of the 2021 bull market |
$67,567 | $81,431 | 0% |
| 21 November 2022 Low of the 2022 bear market |
$15,787 | $17,764 | +359% |
| 6 October 2025 Highest close in today's dollars |
$124,753 | $128,797 | −37% |
"Today vs then" compares today's price with the inflation-adjusted price: a positive number means bitcoin is worth more now, after inflation. "Today's dollars" means August 2026 dollars, the latest CPI month.
Real vs nominal: what the chart shows
A "nominal" price is the price in the dollars of the day. Because the dollar loses purchasing power over time, older prices look a little smaller than they really were: $1 in 2014 bought about as much as $1.41 does today.
For gold, whose 1980 peak needs a big adjustment, inflation changes the story. For bitcoin it mostly doesn't: the price has moved by thousands of per cent while US prices rose by tens of per cent. The adjustment matters most when comparing the cycle peaks of 2017, 2021 and later with each other.
Bitcoin trades around the clock, so this site uses the close at 00:00 UTC each day. For daily prices by year see the bitcoin price history; to compare bitcoin with stocks and gold see the bitcoin charts and the bitcoin/gold ratio.
Bitcoin Price by Year, Adjusted for Inflation
US dollars per bitcoin. "Today's $" uses CPI-U to August 2026. Year-end = close on 31 December (00:00 UTC on 1 January).
| Year | Average | Average, today's $ | Year-end | Year-end, today's $ | Real change | Highest, today's $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | $73,842 | $74,477 | — | — | −10% YTD | $99,828 Jan 14 |
| 2025 | $101,642 | $105,650 | $87,509 | $90,459 | −9% | $128,797 Oct 6 |
| 2024 | $65,964 | $70,371 | $93,429 | $99,165 | +115% | $112,657 Dec 17 |
| 2023 | $28,859 | $31,691 | $42,265 | $46,155 | +147% | $48,232 Dec 8 |
| 2022 | $28,198 | $32,486 | $16,547 | $18,676 | −66% | $56,818 Jan 1 |
| 2021 | $47,437 | $58,594 | $46,306 | $55,637 | +49% | $81,431 Nov 8 |
| 2020 | $11,116 | $14,368 | $29,002 | $37,297 | +298% | $37,297 Dec 31 |
| 2019 | $7,395 | $9,671 | $7,194 | $9,377 | +88% | $17,022 Jun 26 |
| 2018 | $7,572 | $10,116 | $3,743 | $4,990 | −74% | $23,687 Jan 6 |
| 2017 | $4,006 | $5,455 | $14,156 | $19,236 | +1,339% | $26,493 Dec 16 |
| 2016 | $568 | $792 | $964 | $1,337 | +119% | $1,354 Dec 28 |
| 2015 | $272 | $385 | $431 | $610 | +33% | $659 Dec 15 |
| 2014 from Sep 17 | $364 | $515 | $320 | $457 | n/a | $644 Sep 17 |
Inflation-Adjusted Bitcoin FAQ
What is bitcoin's inflation-adjusted all-time high?
On daily closes, the highest price in today's dollars was $128,797 on 6 October 2025 ($124,753 at the time). That is also the nominal record. Bitcoin's current price of $81,520 is 36.7% below the real high.
Are the 2017 and 2021 peaks higher after inflation?
Yes. The highest close of 2017 equals about $26,493 in today's dollars and the highest close of 2021 about $81,431. Inflation lifts old prices by the rise in US consumer prices since then — about 36% for the 2017 peak and 21% for the 2021 peak — which is small next to bitcoin's own moves.
How is the inflation-adjusted bitcoin price calculated?
Each daily close is multiplied by the latest US consumer price index (CPI-U, August 2026) and divided by the index for that month. Days after the latest CPI month are treated as already being in today's dollars, and today uses the live price. This shows what past prices would be in today's US dollars; it does not adjust for inflation in other currencies.
Why does this page start in 2014?
Bitcoin started trading in 2010, but early prices came from a handful of small exchanges and are patchy. This site uses Yahoo Finance's BTC-USD daily closes, which start on 17 September 2014. Bitcoin's history is short compared with gold or stocks, so long-run conclusions should be drawn with care.
What does "daily close" mean for bitcoin?
Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day, every day. A daily close here is the price at 00:00 UTC, the end of each UTC day, as published by Yahoo Finance.
Is bitcoin a hedge against inflation?
Not reliably on the evidence so far. In 2022, the year US inflation peaked near 9%, bitcoin fell 64%. Over its whole history it has risen far faster than prices, but with very large swings. Past performance does not predict future results, and nothing here is investment advice.