The devaluation of China’s currency that is rattling global financial markets has revealed that Bitcoin is now becoming a safe haven asset, according to the head of deVere Group.
Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of the wealth manager based his comments on anecdotal and pricing activity as investors piled into the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies this week amid growing trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
The Chinese renminbi fell to under 7 to the U.S. dollar on Monday – the lowest in more than a decade – igniting drops in stocks and emerging market currencies and driving a rally in government bonds.
“The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, jumped 10% as global stocks were rocked by the devaluation of China’s yuan as the trade war with the U.S. intensifies,” Green said. “This is not a coincidence. It reveals that consensus is growing that Bitcoin is becoming a flight-to-safety asset during times of market uncertainty.”
He added that Bitcoin is currently realizing its reputation as a form of digital gold. Up to now, Green said gold has been known as the ultimate safe-haven asset, but Bitcoin – which shares its key characteristics of being a store of value and scarcity – could potentially dethrone gold in the future as the world becomes increasingly digitalized.
“With the Trump administration now officially labeling China a currency manipulator, escalating the tensions between the world’s two largest currencies economies, investors are set to continue to pile in to decentralized, non-sovereign, secure currencies, such as Bitcoin to protect them from the turmoil taking place in traditional markets,” Green said. “The legitimate risks posed by the continuing trade dispute, China’s currency devaluation and other geopolitical issues, such as Brexit and its far-reaching associated challenges, will lead an increasing number of institutional and retail investors to diversify their portfolios and hedge against those risks by investing in crypto assets.”
Looking ahead, he continued and said the aforementioned will drive the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies higher. Under the current circumstances, he believed the Bitcoin price could hit $15,000 within weeks.
“Cryptocurrencies are now almost universally regarded as the future of money – but what has become clear…is that they are increasingly regarded a safe haven in the present,” Green said.
