One of the biggest arguments about Bitcoin is simply whether or not it really is a safe-haven asset. While many proponents believe that it is, there are more than a few others who say that describing Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset is giving it too much credit. As these conversations continue to spring up now and then, veteran trader and former e-Toro senior analyst Mati Greenspan has disagreed with most Bitcoin proponents.
In a recent interview with TV journalist Layah Heilpern, Greenspan has suggested that Bitcoin is a little too volatile to be a proper safe-haven asset. According to him, in a clip Heilpern posted on Twitter, Bitcoin’s recent spike proves that it isn’t a safe-haven asset more than anything.
#Bitcoin's price increase doesn't mean it's acting as a safe haven asset, with @MatiGreenspan
— Layah Heilpern
Full interview on @Altcoinbuzziohttps://t.co/6fxIPHE0xf pic.twitter.com/FzXa4UOVwn
(@LayahHeilpern) May 5, 2020
Greenspan and Heilpern were discussing Bitcoin’s spike on April 29. He tells Heilpern that Bitcoin’s pump proves that it’s not a safe-haven asset because it should hold its value when other things are going down. Greenspan then explains that in contrast and on that day, Bitcoin was basically the ‘most correlated it’s ever been, with the stock market.’
Greenspan later took to Twitter to iterate his comment in the interview:
“Sorry to disappoint, but a 13% pump on a day that stocks are going up show that it’s being used as a vehicle for speculation and not as a refuge for safety.”
Bitcoin’s recent pump could easily be defended as preparation for the halving. History suggests that as the halving approaches, Bitcoin will start to pump. This spike may not necessarily be correlated with the stock market and is expected to happen pre-halving, regardless of the stock market’s trajectory.
However, Greenspan suggests in the interview that this just means that both the Bitcoin and stock markets are equally risky. He says that both Bitcoin and the stock market rise on days when investors are confident, and fall on days when investors are fearful.
Bitcoin could, however, shed some of its correlation with the stock market months after the halving, when the event’s anticipation abates.
