Bitcoin To Rival Gold? JPMorgan Says Yes, But With A Twist

JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM explored a hypothetical scenario where Bitcoin's BTC/USD market capitalization reaches parity with gold's presence in investment portfolios.

What Happened: According to the bank's research, achieving such a milestone would escalate Bitcoin's market cap to $3.3 trillion, effectively more than doubling its current price, reported Coindesk. 

However, the bank quickly tempered these expectations, citing the inherent risk and volatility associated with the cryptocurrency as significant barriers to this achievement.

The comparison between Bitcoin and gold stems from a common investor viewpoint that regards Bitcoin as the digital counterpart to the traditional metal.

"Most investors take risk and volatility into account when they allocate across asset classes and given the volatility in [Bitcoin] is around 3.7 times the volatility of gold it would be unrealistic to expect [Bitcoin] to match gold within investors’ portfolios in notional amounts,” explained Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou and his team of analysts at JPMorgan.

Adjusting expectations to align Bitcoin's market presence with gold in terms of "risk capital," JPMorgan's projections suggested a more modest market cap of $0.9 trillion for Bitcoin, which would translate to a price of approximately $45,000 per unit.

This figure starkly contrasts with Bitcoin's current price hovering around $67,400, indicating that Bitcoin's allocation in investor portfolios may have already exceeded that of gold when adjusted for volatility.

Also Read: Bitcoin Spot ETF Inflows On Fire: Will Grayscale's Reign Be Overthrown?

Why It Matters: The report further delved into the potential scale of the Bitcoin ETF market, applying a volatility ratio of 3.7 to forecast a market size of about $62 billion.

With current net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs at around $9 billion, part of this movement could be attributed to a shift from existing investment vehicles towards ETFs.

"This is a realistic target of the potential size of spot [Bitcoin] ETFs over time perhaps within a time period of two to three years, though much of the implied net inflow could represent a continued rotational shift from existing instruments and venues to ETFs," the JPMorgan report concluded, offering a glimpse into the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency investments.

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