Now that banks have understood the potential of Bitcoin (BTC), their favorite analyst is issuing regular updates to them about the digital asset market. In 2021, Bloomberg’s analysis and predictions have become just as optimistic as those of analyst PlanB, the illustrious creator of the stock-to-flow model. Indeed, Bloomberg strategists regularly predict a $100,000 Bitcoin in the near future.
Bitcoin, a store of value for the future according to Bloomberg
In its September edition of the Crypto Outlook, Bloomberg gives us its vision of the future of the digital asset market. The report states that Bitcoin is poised to become a global reserve asset. Mike McGlone, chief commodity strategist at Bloomberg and one of the report’s editors, seconds this claim. According to the analyst, the king of cryptos will become the global reserve asset, complementary to the dollar.
McGlone also notes that Bitcoin has contributed to investors’ successful risk-taking strategy:
“Portfolios composed of a combination of gold and bonds look increasingly disadvantaged without the addition of Bitcoin and Ethereum.”
Bloomberg Crypto Outlook, September 2021 edition
Indeed, Bitcoin’s performance is far superior to gold and bonds. Since March 2020, bitcoin has risen nearly 1,190%, far outpacing gold’s 25.93% rise.
The Bitcoin-Gold-Bonds Index takes data from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares 20+ T – Bond ETF (TLT) funds. These 3 funds allow investors to gain exposure to the market, without having to hold the physical asset. As you can see above, the trio has outperformed the Wall Street benchmark (in blue) by a wide margin since early 2020.
Furthermore, this decoupling of the performance of the 2 indices and coincides with the unprecedented expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet (Red). As part of its monetary policy, the Fed issues dollars to buy up corporate assets in order to maintain a certain level of economic activity. The main consequence of this policy is to generate inflation which encourages investors to buy so-called safe haven assets, such as gold, bonds and Bitcoin.
Ethereum could overtake Bitcoin by 2023
The September edition of the report reiterates the prediction of a $100,000 BTC. Nevertheless, the report concedes that it will be easier for ether (ETH) to surpass its all-time high towards the $5,000 level than for Bitcoin.
The Bloomberg Galaxy DeFi Index (BGDI), launched in August, highlights Ethereum’s growing demand and adoption. Indeed, DeFi and the DeFi ecosystem are significantly outperforming the king of cryptocurrencies in 2021.
Furthermore, with the launch of Ethereum version 2, the supply of available ETH continues to decrease. As the demand for ethers increases, this allows the token price to conquer new heights. For the first time, the number of newly created ETH in the last 12 months is less than 4% of the total supply.
The report also mentions non-fungible tokens (NFT) as one of the reasons for Ethereum’s success. Indeed, the majority of NFT prices are given in ethers and transactions are therefore made in ETH, which contributes to the growing demand and appreciation of the token.
Finally, the September Crypto Oulook also mentions the famous Flippening. This event would correspond to the day when the capitalization of the Ethereum network would exceed that of Bitcoin. Based on a regression of the 2 assets’ performances, Bloomberg analysts estimate that Ethereum could dethrone Bitcoin by 2022. Nevertheless, the report points out that it would be more reasonable to expect this event to take place in 2023.
