Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs says returns on Bitcoin have been blowing away all other financial assets throughout the year.
According to a report by CoinDesk, the historic Wall Street firm began including Bitcoin in its weekly ranking of global asset-class returns at the end of January, when BTC quietly appeared at the top of the chart.
Since that time, Bitcoin’s lead over other asset classes–stocks, bonds, oil, gold, etc.–has continued to widen. Apparently, according to Goldman’s “U.S. Weekly Kickstart” report”, as of March 4, BTC’s year-to-date (YTD) return was 70%, more than double that of the energy sector, which held the second-place position with a YTD return of 35%.
The report cites a number of reasons why Bitcoin will continue to dominate the Goldman rankings throughout the remainder of the year. While recovering oil prices have managed to boost returns in the energy sector, selling pressure in the stock market last week pushed the S&P 500 Index’s YTD to roughly zero.
According to the report, gold has also continued to be the worst-performing asset class YTD. CoinDesk claims that traditional investors are increasingly recognizing Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, putting the 70% YTD return for BTC in stark contrast to gold’s 10% decline.
The report follows on the heels of Chief Operating Officer (COO) John Waldron telling Reuters the firm was exploring its options for Bitcoin in response to a surge in client demand. According to a recent survey conducted by Goldman, roughly 40% of the banking giant’s clients have exposure to cryptocurrency.
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