Why this billionaire investor says Bitcoin is going to disrupt gold and all volatile assets
Cameron Winklevoss, the co-founder of Gemini and a billionaire bitcoin investor, believes bitcoin will disrupt gold, a safe-haven asset with a market capitalization of over $8 trillion.
In comparison, as of Aug. 21, BTC has a market capitalization of $180 billion, about 2.25 percent of gold. Winklevoss said:
“Bitcoin is going to disrupt gold, but it will also disrupt any volatile emerging market that doesn’t put the welfare of its citizens first and foremost.”
Bitcoin still has a long way to go, why high profile investors are so positive
Quite a few billionaire investors have expressed optimism towards the long term growth trend of bitcoin over the past several years including Peter Thiel and Michael Novogratz.
Most bitcoin enthusiasts see the fungibility, liquidity, and transferability of the dominant cryptocurrency as the three major characteristics that would allow it to outcompete traditional safe-haven assets.
Currently, as seen in the downward trajectory of BTC since early June despite noticeably rising geopolitical risks, BTC is not acting as an inversely correlated asset to the global equities market.
However, it has consistently shown signs of a non-correlated asset, demonstrating independent price movements based on the supply and demand within the global cryptocurrency market.
It remains unclear whether BTC would demonstrate inverse correlation to the equities market in the short to medium term but investors like Winklevoss foresee the asset to operate as an alternative store of value as it continues to evolve.
In July, Winklevoss said:
“Amazon was e-commerce, and now it’s just commerce. Today, Bitcoin is ‘digital gold’ but tomorrow it will be just Bitcoin. It won’t need to be analogized or require any qualifiers.”
What would it take for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to continue evolving
For the cryptocurrency sector to sustain its growth trend throughout the years to come, it is crucial for companies within the industry to build products, regulated investment vehicles, and custodial solutions that can serve the broader market of investors.
As previously reported, according to Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, the company has seen an inflow of $200 to $400 million in capital from institutional investors following its acquisition of Xapo’s custodial business. Armstrong said:
“Whether institutions were going to adopt crypto or not was an open question about 12 months ago. I think it’s safe to say we now know the answer. We’re seeing $200-400M a week in new crypto deposits come in from institutional customers.”
With Bakkt, a bitcoin futures market approved by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (SEC) launching in September as the provider of the first physically-backed BTC futures, the liquidity in the cryptocurrency market is anticipated to increase overall.
Hence, while bitcoin has catch-up to do with other traditional safe-haven assets in terms of market size and possibly mainstream awareness, high profile investors likely remain positive because of the high level of developer activity in the sector and the increase in the growth rate of businesses within the industry.
Bitcoin bull Michael Novogratz tweeted last month:
“If BTC goes to $100, it is game over. It won’t. It’s already established itself as a store of value. Stop wasting your time with these tweets and go outside and enjoy the summer. BTC is consolidating before its next move higher. Let it work for you.”
Bitcoin Market Data
At the time of press 4:10 pm UTC on Dec. 7, 2019, Bitcoin is ranked #1 by market cap and the price is down 5.78% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $181.22 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $18.34 billion. Learn more about Bitcoin ›
Crypto Market Summary
At the time of press 4:10 pm UTC on Dec. 7, 2019, the total crypto market is valued at at $262.64 billion with a 24-hour volume of $59.78 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 68.99%. Learn more about the crypto market ›