Just a quick reminder: Balaji doesn't need Bitcoin to hit $1M to profit on his bet.

If he owns $2M in bitcoin, and it goes up to 40k per coin, he has already broke even on a 1M bet. 

If he owns $10M, he only needs it to go up to 30k.

Writing about DAOs @ charterless.com.
Ex-FB, Amherst College.
Always an Eagles Fan.

Exactly this. The more he already holds the smaller the movement he needs to make it worth it.

And what are the alternatives? E.g. if he spent a million dollars on marketing how much would he be able to move prices? Barely at all.

The real question is whether it's a rug or hodl play.