Bank Of America Warns Against Optimism over Bitcoin

fancisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of global commodities and derivatives research, warned that cryptocurrencies have major inherent risks and urged investors against optimism about bitcoin’s rising value, according to Bloomberg.

e said cryptocurrencies remain prone to fraud, theft, new protocol adoption and lack of acceptance. He also pointed out that it is not legal tender in many parts of the world.

For bitcoin to thrive, he said it needs to become a pledgeable collateral. He further noted that bitcoin must be viewed as safe to become a trusted store of value.

Bitcoin trading, meanwhile, has increased to more than $1 billion daily in recent months. On some days, trading has surpassed $2 billion.

Volatility Still High
Blanch said bitcoin’s volatility lessens as it builds liquidity and scale. But its volatility remains higher than emerging market currencies. In addition, he said, cryptocurrencies do not correlate with gold, oil, Group-of-10 currencies or equities.

Cryptocurrency returns rely on price appreciation that will mainly depend on faith from financial institutions, corporations and individuals, he said. Bitcoin currently trades at more than $2,500 per coin, which more than doubles the price at the beginning of the year.

Most regulated financial companies permit clients to borrow against physical and financial assets, but they do not take cryptocurrency as collateral at the present time, Blanch observed. This view matches that of Morgan Stanley analysts who stated in June that government acceptance is needed for cryptocurrency appreciation, coming at the cost of regulation.