Jeff Currie, Goldman Sachs’ head of commodities research, said Tuesday cryptocurrencies are not a substitute for gold when looking for an inflation hedge, but for copper.
- Speaking on CNBC’s "Squawk Box Europe", Currie said both gold and crypto have been deemed as hedges against rising prices.
- He noted that while gold is viewed as a haven asset, both bitcoin and copper behave as “risk-on” assets.
- "Digital currencies are not substitutes for gold," Currie said in the interview. "If anything, they would be a substitute for copper. They are pro-risk, risk-on assets. They are substitutes for risk-on inflation hedges, not risk-off inflation hedges."
- Since April gold has risen by almost $200 due to the weak U.S. dollar. Bitcoin has increased more than 25% in 2021, but is down more than 25% over the past three months, CNBC said on its website.
- “You look at the correlation between bitcoin and copper, or a measure of risk appetite and bitcoin, and we’ve got 10 years of trading history on bitcoin, it is definitely a risk-on asset,” Currie said.
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