The price of Bitcoin (BTC), the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has more than doubled since the beginning of the year.
This exponential increase is second to none in the institutional-grade assets class, hence, making the cryptocurrency the best performing asset in the first quarter of 2021 according to cryptocurrency market research platform Messari.
While BTC appreciated over the past three months, the precious metal gold plummeted in value within the same period.
Bitcoin: The Best Performing Institutional Asset
Bitcoin was the best performing institutional-grade assets within Q1 of 2021, according to Messari researcher Mira Christanto. The cryptocurrency increased by 103 percent in value. Back in January, BTC was valued at around US$28,994. However, the price has surged to over US$59,000.
Within Q1 also, Oil increased by 26 percent, followed by Global Stocks (3 percent) and the USD (1 percent). The yellow metal was rated the institutional asset with the most significant loss. According to Messari, Investment Grade Bonds dropped by four percent in Q1, followed by Government Bonds, which fell by five percent. Gold declined by ten percent in value.
An ounce of gold was traded at nearly US$1,900 on 1 January 2021. However, the value has declined to US$1,707 at the time of writing.
Institutions Bet on Bitcoin as a Better Asset
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, many large companies began considering Bitcoin as a better store of value and inflation hedge. This includes the publicly-traded company MicroStrategy, MassMutual, Tesla, Square, and many other corporations. According to CoinGecko, there are 21 known public companies that have Bitcoin on their balance sheet. These institutional investments seem to have helped BTC maintaining an upward movement in value.
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