Institutional investors may be eyeing bitcoin as an alternative to gold as Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) saw cumulative inflows through October, while gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw “most outflows” since mid-October.
Grayscale’s GBTC lets investors gain exposure to the flagship cryptocurrency without having to worry about managing private keys or choosing a bitcoin wallet. The crypto asset manager manages the fund for a fee. ETFs are a type of security that tracks an underlying asset or index.
According to a report published by analysts at JPMorgan, the contrast seen between GBTC’s inflows and gold ETF outflows “lends support to the idea that some investors that previously invested in gold ETFs such as family offices, may be looking at bitcoin as an alternative to gold.”
Grayscale’s bitcoin investment product is seeing demand from both retail and institutional investors, the analysts added, before pointing out that BTC’s potential long-term upside is “considerable” if the cryptocurrency manages to compete with the precious metal as an “an ‘alternative’ currency.”
The contrast is also significant as Grayscale has launched an ad campaign telling investors to drop gold and buy bitcoin. JPMorgan’s report comes at a time in which corporate support for bitcoin has been rising, as billion-dollar business intelligence firm MicroStrategy has made a $425 million bet on BTC, while Square bought $50 million worth of the cryptocurrency.
PayPal has also recently started letting its users buy, sell, and hold bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, and ether through its platform. The company’s president and CEO, Dan Schulman, has revealed he believes it will increase the utility of cryptoassets.
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