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<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/smartest-man-alive-predicts-xrp-christmas-rally" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">YoungHoon Kim</a> is a South Korean entrepreneur who claims to hold the world's highest IQ of 276.
The self-proclaimed genius&nbsp;is also well-known among the crypto circles for his price predictions over the past few months.
And his recent price prediction has the crypto community glued to the price charts, especially for the next couple of hours.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/analyst-rejects-worlds-highest-iq-holders-bitcoin-prediction-as-nonsense" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Analyst rejects world's highest IQ holder's Bitcoin prediction as 'nonsense'</a>
<h2 id="kim-shares-new-bitcoin-price-target">Kim shares new Bitcoin price target</h2>
Whether it's popular cryptocurrencies like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/investing/smartest-man-alive-new-bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin</a> (BTC) and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/smartest-man-alive-predicts-xrp-christmas-rally" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">XRP</a>&nbsp;or the leading meme coin&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/smartest-man-alive-reveals-the-secret-to-next-dogecoin-rally" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Dogecoin</a> (DOGE),&nbsp;Kim has shared his price projections for all these digital assets.
Recently, he shared a&nbsp;new short-term price prediction for Bitcoin that many of the coin's enthusiasts would very much like to come true.
Kim <a href="https://x.com/yhbryankimiq/status/2008223928662282684" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">predicted</a> at 12:07 pm EST on Jan. 5 that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 within 48 hours.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
 IQ 276 take: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">#Bitcoin</a>. 48h. $100K.— YoungHoon Kim, IQ 276 (@yhbryankimiq) <a href="https://twitter.com/yhbryankimiq/status/2008223928662282684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">January 5, 2026</a>
</blockquote>
When he wrote the post, the king coin was trading at $94,000 and fell 2% within the next 24 hours to trade a&nbsp;little above $92,000.
For Kim's prediction to come true, BTC needs to surge by $8,000 by&nbsp;12:07 pm EST on Jan. 7.
Bitcoin began 2025 on a bullish note as&nbsp;Donald Trump's inauguration as the U.S. president&nbsp;in early January&nbsp;led to the coin surging to $102,000.
But the rally didn't sustain for long and the coin bottomed near $76,000 in April.
Bitcoin slowly began recovering during the second half of the year and eventually hit a new all-time high of $126,000 in early October of 2025.
But the <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/over-19-billion-liquidated-crypto-crash-trump-tariffs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Oct</a><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/over-19-billion-liquidated-crypto-crash-trump-tariffs" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">. 10 flash crash</a>&nbsp;following Trump's tariff remark erased its gains and BTC has since been trying to recover.
<h3 id="more-news">More News:</h3>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/analyst-xrp-behaving-like-gold" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Analyst says XRP is behaving like gold</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/billionaire-investor-says-theres-no-real-exit-from-money-printing" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Billionaire investor says there’s no real exit from money printing</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/analyst-doubles-down-on-sinking-crypto-stocks-for-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Analyst doubles down on sinking crypto stocks</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="who-isyounghoon-kim">Who is&nbsp;YoungHoon Kim?</h2>
Kim is a South Korean national who presents himself as an intelligence researcher and also claims that he holds an IQ of 276.
An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score calculated from a set of standardized tests that are designed to assess human intelligence. Since there is no definitive definition of human intelligence, IQ tests vary widely as per different organizations.
Though Kim has consistently reiterated his claim, not everyone is convinced.
Vice <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/worlds-smartest-man-iq-276-younghoon-kim/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">published a report</a> in July 2025 in which the publication talked to several members of the IQ society.
One such society is the Mega Society that&nbsp;Ronald Hoeflin&nbsp;founded in 1982.
Kim’s own site, a “nongovernmental think tank” called United Sigma Intelligence Association (USIA), <a href="https://www.usiassociation.org/post/usia-president-younghoon-kim" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">claims</a> he voluntarily resigned from the Mega Society in August 2024.
But several people Vice spoke to&nbsp;claim Kim was expelled from the Mega Society.
<blockquote>
 Paul Cooijmans, a Dutch high-IQ expert, said, “My impression is that YoungHoon Kim is a megalomanic, pathologically lying impostor.”
</blockquote>
In 1996, Cooijmans founded the <a href="https://gigasociety.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Giga Society</a>. But&nbsp;Kim also launched a copycat&nbsp;<a href="https://gigasociety.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Giga Society</a>&nbsp;without Cooijman’s permission and has refused to stop when Cooijmans asked him.
<blockquote>
 Brazilian high-IQ expert Hindenburg Melao Jr. said, “Kim’s history within high-IQ societies is brief, complex, and not particularly flattering.”
</blockquote>
When&nbsp;Kim’s USIA&nbsp;announced a prize to&nbsp;the American psychologist Howard Gardner in 2021, he turned it down.
<blockquote>
 “It is clear that this is not a genuine organization in the sense that American professionals assume...&nbsp;At this point, USIA is best described as a reputational Ponzi scheme,” Gardner <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">wrote</a> in a blog post.
</blockquote>
The association&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usiassociation.org/post/noam-chomsky-named-2022-usia-award-winner-for-humanity" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">claims it gave </a>the same award to the noted linguist Noam Chomsky in 2022.
Vice concluded&nbsp;that though Kim's IQ is fairly high, no expert believes him to have the highest IQ.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/analyst-doubles-down-on-sinking-crypto-stocks-for-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Analyst doubles down on sinking crypto stocks</a>

Self-proclaimed highest IQ holder has few hours left to prove Bitcoin prediction right

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