Bitcoin seen topping US$50,000 long term as it vies with gold

[HONG KONG] Bitcoin's price could exceed US$50,000 over the longer term as the digital asset vies with gold for investment flows, according to cryptocurrency exchange Luno and brokerage OSL.

"We're talking about Bitcoin over the next three, five, 10 years slowly inching away at gold's market capitalisation," Vijay Ayyar, head of Asia-Pacific with crypto exchange Luno in Singapore, said in an online question and answer session with Bloomberg on Tuesday. If that happens, "you are way over US$50,000", he said.

Bitcoin quadrupled last year, eventually reaching an all-time high of almost US$42,000 in early January before sliding back by about US$10,000. The rally split opinion, with some commentators pointing to increased interest from long-term investors and others citing speculative buying.

While Bitcoin has been popular for trading, "increasingly the new to market money that we are seeing is buying Bitcoin as a hedge to inflation and as digital gold", said Matt Long, head of distribution and prime brokerage at digital-asset platform OSL in Hong Kong.

Predicting a price for Bitcoin is challenging but it's likely to rise longer term as funds and family offices assign 0.5 per cent or 1 per cent of their portfolios to it, Mr Long added.

Bitcoin, which has climbed 9 per cent this year, was trading at about US$31,500 as of 12.47pm in Tokyo on Tuesday.

BLOOMBERG