JPMorgan says more institutional investors are choosing bitcoin over gold, in part because of the cryptocurrency’s potential for serious growth both in the near and long term, according to a Coindesk report Friday (Oct. 8).
“Bitcoin’s allure as an inflation hedge” has long-time investors once again turning their attention to the crypto market, wrote JPMorgan’s Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou in an Oct. 6 research note to clients, the report says.
“There are tentative signs that the previous shift away from gold into bitcoin seen during most of Q4 2020 and the beginning of 2021 has started reemerging in recent weeks,” he wrote.
Bitcoin prices surged past $55,000 earlier this week and have climbed about 85 percent overall this year. The price of ether, the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain, has gone up almost 400 percent in the same time period. Even Shiba Inu is experiencing a recent surge to previously unseen heights.
Gold prices, meanwhile, have fallen about 6.5 percent to less than $1,800 per ounce, Coindesk reports.
Panigirtzoglou said bitcoin’s popularity resurgence could be due, in part, to “the failure of gold to respond in recent weeks to heightened concerns over inflation.” Investors have traditionally looked at gold as a hedge against inflation, the report says.
Related: DOJ Introduces National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team
Meanwhile, in an effort to keep the nefarious players from acting on their worst impulses, the U.S. Department of Justice this week announced the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team as crimes related to digital currency remains in the focus of federal officials.
NCET will pursue its own cases and assist with current and future matters nationwide across the Criminal Division and in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. Team members will also collaborate with other federal agencies, subject matter experts and other government law enforcement partners.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said NCET will enforce laws surrounding “criminal misuses of cryptocurrency,” with a closer look into crimes committed by digital currency exchanges, “mixing and tumbling services,” and infrastructure related to money laundering.
