I think I pretty much agree with your take that it's not an asset class. But Bitcoin and the various other cryptocurrencies are are definitely speculative assets. I tend to call Bitcoin a fad asset. Which is to say its price in dollars seems to go up and down based solely on demand, and that demand seems to cycle based more on fad cult popularity than traditional economic factors. On the plus side, in the case of Bitcoin, Ethereum and maybe a few others, they've built up to a decently broad market. So for me, I hold some BTC and ETH, but in my mind, they are speculative fad assets that will cycle up and down on their own popularity in boom/bust cycles.Kbg wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 4:26 pmYes imagine…but it’s not.Jack Jones wrote: ↑Mon May 09, 2022 4:10 pm Imagine if the Bitcoin price was taking off during all this.
There are beginning to be a few academic studies on bitcoin as an asset class. Most of them start with a qualifier; “well there isn’t much data” bitcoin tends to be highly correlated to technology stocks. I think both parts are important when discussing this topic, but we do have some preliminary data. Personally, I just don’t see this being an asset class. I have yet to see anything that indicates it will serve a useful function in someone’s portfolio for sound economic reasons. I am convinced that the technology is useful, just not as a unique or distinct financial asset class.
One thesis that is now obviously disproven is the thesis that the US government has printed too much money, the result will be inflation, and in response, Bitcoin will skyrocket to astronomical levels. The first two conditions have happened and in response BTC has plummeted.