Why Gold Has More Investment Appeal Than Bitcoin
By Peter Stephens While stock markets across the globe have risen sharply in recent months, the price of Bitcoin has come under further pressure. The cryptocurrency has fallen by over 20% in the last four months, while the FTSE 100 has gained 10% and the S&P 500 is up by around 5% during the same time period. Meanwhile, gold has dropped by 6% in the last four months. However, this is at least partly due to improving investor sentiment, with defensive assets becoming less appealing to increasingly risk-on investors. As a result, the decline in Bitcoin is arguably even more worrying, since more confident investors should equate to higher demand for volatile virtual currencies. Investment potential Of course, Bitcoin’s journey has been filled with periods of intense disappointment. For example, in 2013 it came close to closing at $1,000 for the first time. At that point, it was becoming increasingly popular among investors, as it was outperforming a wide range of indices. Ho...