Bitcoin Is a Hedge Against Gov’t ‘Fiscal Irresponsibility’ — Analyst

Published at: Sept. 16, 2019

Equities portfolio manager turned crypto fund executive Travis Kling has argued that Bitcoin (BTC) has come into its own as a unique hedge within the current macroeconomic climate.

In an interview with CNN on Sept. 15, Kling argued that the specific properties of Bitcoin make it an exceptional insurance policy against monetary and fiscal irresponsibility from central banks and governments globally.

“Crypto has been created for such a time as this”

Kling — a veteran of the multi-billion-dollar hedge fund Point72 —  outlined how his interest in cryptocurrencies had evolved over the course of Bitcoin’s decade-long history and how, as he garnered more knowledge, he had come to recognize the asset as being the “most significant investment opportunity of a generation.”

While developments within the crypto markets may formerly have been isolated from the traditional financial sector, Kling argued that the latest, compelling evolution in Bitcoin’s identity is its present interaction with legacy markets. He said:

“Now is an incredibly interesting time from a global macro perspective and [...] it appears that crypto has been created for such a time as this. With what we have in terms of monetary and fiscal policies from central banks and governments, big tech overreach, government overreach, data privacy issues that are coming to the center of the collective consciousness.”

As a “non-sovereign, hard cap supply, global, immutable, decentralized digital store of value,” he said, Bitcoin should be considered separately from other crypto assets — for these very properties are what distinguishes it as a particularly robust and timely investment.

“The hardest money in human history”

Kling observed that the world needs Bitcoin as an insurance policy “more today than it did yesterday” and that it’s going to need it “more tomorrow more than it does today,” in light of what central bank and government policies:

“It’s apparent that central banks are all racing to devalue their currencies [...] What are they devaluing against? They’re devaluing against assets that have provable scarcity [...] Bitcoin has even more provable scarcity than gold, it’s the hardest money in human history.”

In the throes of an uncertain world economic picture, Kling’s perspective has been broadly — if not unanimously — shared by analysts of different stripes. 

In August, digital asset research firm Delphi Digital published a report arguing that the present macroeconomic landscape is creating the “perfect storm” to ignite Bitcoin price appreciation.

Also, this summer,  the head of global fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank remarked that central banks’ dovish policies are positively impacting “alternative” currencies like Bitcoin. 

Anthony Pompliano, meanwhile, has echoed this in proposing that the European Central Bank’s dovish turn will be “rocket fuel” for Bitcoin’s price performance.

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