In the face of growing fears of recession in the United States, Bernstein argued that investors looking for a safe haven should consider Bitcoin (BTC).
According to Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani, BTCi, known for its “digital gold” properties and increasing in popularity among institutions, has an “enviable return record” compared to physical gold.
Chhugani highlighted BTC's hard currency characteristics that make it an attractive 'safe haven' asset. “Since its inception, Bitcoin has consistently outperformed gold,” he said.
He also noted that Bitcoin's current inflation rate of 1.8% is similar to that of gold. However, he noted that skeptics often ignore the fact that Bitcoin's inflation halves every four years.
This halving event, coded into the Bitcoin protocol, reduces the cryptocurrency supply by halving the reward for BTC mining every four years.
Despite a 60% decline in 2022, Bitcoin is up nearly 150% in the last three years. In contrast, gold remained stable during this period. Over a five-year period, Bitcoin outperformed gold by five times.
Bernstein also noted that Bitcoin is in its early stages of institutional adoption. This process will be facilitated by the approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US.
“Bitcoin ETF will make BTC accessible across brokerage accounts and will integrate well with private banks and asset managers/advisors,” Chhugani said. Currently, Bitcoin's market cap is less than 5% of gold's market cap (above-ground reserves).
*This is not investment advice.