Bitcoin 'could soon be the new gold', says JP Morgan
Bitcoin has the potential to rival gold as a safe haven to store wealth, analysts believe.
JP Morgan’s Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou believes the cryptocurrency, which has soared in the value over the past year, could become a genuine new asset class.
He said: “The prospective launch of bitcoin futures contracts by established exchanges, in particular, has the potential to add legitimacy and thus increase the appeal of the cryptocurrency market to both retail and institutional investors.”
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Two of the world’s largest options exchanges, CBOE and CME, were given clearance by the US regulator last week to list bitcoin futures, an important step in allowing mainstream investors to buy and sell the virtual currency.
“The value of this new asset class is a function of the breadth of its acceptance as a store of wealth and as a means of payment,” added Panigirtzoglou.
“Simply judging by other stores of wealth such as gold, cryptocurrencies have the potential to grow further from here.”
The value of bitcoin has climbed spectacularly during the year – now one coin is valued at more than $11,638 (£8,676) – up 1,000% since January.
Such is the value of the cryptocurrency that small-time, casual investors who took a punt on a handful of bitcoin for a few hundred pounds a few months ago are now sitting on small fortunes.
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Indeed, Auto Trader revealed last week it had listed for the first time ever a car to be bought only in bitcoin.
The Roll-Royce Ghost – ironically a gold-coloured one – is being sold for the equivalent of more than £117,000.
The JP Morgan investor note took many by surprise given CEO Jamie Dimon’s much quoted dismissal of bitcoin as a “fraud” last month.
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He has spoken often that he believes the bubble will burst on the virtual currency. “If you’re stupid enough to buy it, you’ll pay the price for it one day,” Dimon said at a conference.
