- Bitcoin hit a new all-time high past $109,000.
- Two factors are driving interest in Bitcoin, says analyst Noelle Acheson.
- Investors on both sides of the risk spectrum are buying.
Bitcoin’s two identities — as both a risk asset and a safe haven — are colliding at exactly the right time.
On one hand, investors are picking up Bitcoin like they would tech stocks, betting that the government will eventually intervene if capital markets continue to wobble. On the other, geopolitical fragmentation and rising inflation are nudging some to treat it like digital gold.
“It’s this dual narrative nature that gives Bitcoin a higher floor,” wrote Noelle Acheson in her newsletter “Crypto is Macro Now.”
“It diversifies the investor base and enhances the asset’s appeal when compared to either ‘just’ risk assets or ‘just’ gold.”
Right now, both stories are working in Bitcoin’s favor.
Bitcoin trades at $109,003.
Some, like Maelstrom founder Arthur Hayes, say it could go as high as $1 million by 2028. In the interim, Bernstein analysts upped their price prediction to $200,000 by year’s end. The firm had previously put a price target of $150,000.
Inflection point
Bitcoin finds itself at an inflection point in its short, 16-year existence.
It’s a shift playing out in real time.
Indeed, Bitcoin — and gold — became the assets to hold amid the ongoing trade war between the US and China. That’s why more investors are adding it to their portfolios, in the search for new ways to spread out risk and increase returns, said Jay Jacobs, head of US equity ETFs at BlackRock.
But even as tensions between US and China have cooled off some, the larger economic disputes between the two are still very real. And they could flare up again at any time.
That’s also driving investors to the top crypto.
“What we are probably seeing now is Bitcoin accumulation in preparation for increased market stress – from both risk asset investors, and longer-term, safe-haven investors,” said Acheson.
Pedro Solimano is a markets correspondent based in Buenos Aires. Got a tip? Email him at psolimano@dlnews.com.
