Year: 2020

Coronavirus lockdowns will force people out of fiat currency and into gold and Bitcoin (BTC), the CEO of cryptocurrency asset manager BitGo has warned.

In a series of tweets on Aug. 12, Mike Belshe strongly urged investors to divert a minimum of 3% of their portfolio into Bitcoin.

Belshe: investors will move from cash to gold, Bitcoin

As multiple jurisdictions around the world reenter compulsory lockdown conditions, Belshe said that in the United States, the government had made a prison for itself using the policy.

“The government is being forced to maintain lockdowns for political correctness, which will force them to print money even faster. Institutional investors are flagging this and recognize the devaluation will make cash hard to hold,” he wrote. 

Those institutions hit the headlines conspicuously this week, when billion-dollar corporation MicroStrategy confirmed it had adopted Bitcoin as its treasury reserve asset.

A $250 million buy-in cemented the sense of change, with CEO Michael Saylor highlighting Bitcoin’s unique properties as money.

“They’re looking for alternatives, and it… comes down to Bitcoin and gold,” Belshe continued.  

“If you don’t have some Bitcoin now, it is time to put at least 3% of your net worth into Bitcoin. This is the lowest risk, highest asymmetric upside investment you will likely see in your lifetime. Or stop the lockdown. But still get Bitcoin.”

2020 macro asset returns comparison as of Aug. 12. Source: Skew

Hard money not inflationary paper

As Cointelegraph reported, the premise behind lockdowns has come under heavy criticism from Bitcoin supporters. 

In particular, “The Bitcoin Standard” author Saifedean Ammous has lambasted the measure as being far more detrimental to the population of a country in the long term than Coronavirus.

The criticism follows on from that contained in Ammous’ book and others critical of economic policy based on spending and borrowing, such as Henry Hazlitt’s “Economics in One Lesson.”

A clear relationship between inflationary fiat currency and reduced prosperity means that Bitcoin is the only genuine solution for those who wish to save for the future.

This week, the message became all the more clear as data showed correlation between Bitcoin price action and expanding central bank balance sheets.

Every 1st and 15th, Cointelegraph Consulting provides the latest inside scoop on cryptocurrency price action and rationale in its Market Insights newsletter. Here’s a preview of one of this month’s editions. 

Editor’s note

Crypto asset prices have flown upward in recent weeks, with various altcoins posting gains reminiscent of the great 2017 digital asset bubble. Assets such as Chainlink (LINK) and Band Protocol (BAND) have tallied triple digits percentage gains. 

Bitcoin (BTC), the industry’s pioneer asset, has also shown significant upside action. The asset travelled up slightly past $12,000 on Aug. 2 before subsequently falling more than $1,000 in the same 24-hour period. Aug. 10 saw BTC return to the $12,000 level, again facing rejection, sustaining a subsequent drop of several hundred dollars. Overall sentiment in the crypto investing and trading realm, however, remains high. 

Mainstream financial players also continue entering the digital asset industry via Bitcoin, with intelligence giant MicroStrategy as one of the latest entrants. Buying over 21,000 BTC, the firm has adopted the coin as its reserve asset.  

Benjamin Pirus, Reporter

Insights from around the digital asset sphere

Bitcoin whales may have sold some of their stockpiles. Recent data shows only 15,912 Bitcoin addresses holding 100 or more BTC — the lowest number in five years. Such network data implies large Bitcoin participants may be selling instead of accumulating. 

In terms of sentiment, however, crypto’s inaugural asset shows a major turnaround from the bearishness seen previously. Over the last two weeks, the market has expressed a significant bullish tone, topping at 1.2 standard deviations during Bitcoin’s most recent run toward $12,000. 

Data also shows an uptick in the number of dollars moving onto centralized exchanges via U.S. dollar stablecoin USDC — a signal which has often proved as a precursor to previous bullish Bitcoin price action. 

In contrast, Bitcoin’s Market Value to Realized Value, or MVRV, ratio looks troublesome, posting a 30-day value of 1.15 on August 2. This essentially means short-term Bitcoin investors boasted an average 15% profit across the board. 

On a separate front, Ethereum holds hot on Bitcoin’s tail in terms of transaction volume. Bitcoin now touts 3.4x the transaction volume seen on Ethereum’s blockchain, a dwindling lead, according to numbers from the beginning of August. 

Read the full newsletter edition here to get the entire scoop, complete with charts and images. 

Cointelegraph’s Market Insights Newsletter strives to share our knowledge on the fundamentals that move the digital asset market. With market intelligence from one of the industry’s leading analytics providers, Santiment, the newsletter dives into the latest data on social media sentiment, on-chain metrics, and derivatives. 

We also review the most important news hitting the industry including mergers and acquisitions, changes in the regulatory landscape, and enterprise blockchain integrations. Sign-up now to be the first to receive these insights.