What's Driving Up Bitcoin Price? Central Banks, Says FT Reporter

The Financial Times' chief correspondent for international finance has argued that central banks can ironically be credited for igniting Bitcoin’s price.

In a column for Nikkei Asian Review on Aug. 21, Henny Sender said that banks’ dovish policies are spurring an increasing recognition of cryptocurrencies as safe-haven assets.  

Hedging big macro risks with Bitcoin

Analysts anticipate more dovish announcements from the United States Federal Reserve at this year’s central banking meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week.

In July, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, continuing the dovish tone set by the European Central Bank.

On Aug. 5, China’s currency fell below the watershed mark of 7 yuan to the U.S. dollar — and government bonds continue to be plagued by volatility, with little assurance of solid yields.

Against this backdrop, Sender argues that the actions of central banks in developed economies are turning Bitcoin from a speculative instrument into a solid investment that can help to hedge big macro risks. 

She cites a report from Grayscale Investments’ research unit, which similarly argued that:

"Bitcoin has the potential to perform well over the course of normal economic cycles as well as liquidity crises, especially those involving currency devaluations [...] [it has] store-of-value characteristics similar to real assets like gold, with hard-money attributes like immutable scarcity."

Indeed, Bitcoin’s increasing correlation with the precious metal has not gone unnoticed — yet further consolidating its moniker as digital gold. In the last three months alone, the correlation between the assets has almost doubled.

A perfect storm

In China, a government concerned about soaring capital flight considers cryptocurrency to be among the channels for such outflows. This — alongside other factors — has accelerated the People’s Bank of China’s decision to develop its own central bank digital currency, insider sources claim.

According to an expert at the informal Bitcoin Association of China, cryptocurrency purchases have shot up 50% in recent months, Sender notes — with the caveat that this figure remains difficult to verify.

Earlier this month, digital asset research firm Delphi Digital published a report arguing that central banks’ monetary easing and the increasing risk of fiat currency devaluation are likely to catalyze the price of both Bitcoin and physical gold. Macro factors are creating the perfect storm to ignite the coin’s price appreciation, the report concluded.

Anthony Pompliano recently stated that the European Central Bank’s expected dovish turn will be “rocket fuel” for Bitcoin — a view that is shared by those in the traditional financial sector.