So Bitcoin’s back on the charge, then. After enduring a rocky ride in July, the world’s foremost cryptocurrency’s crawling slowly skywards again, moving from around $10,000 at the start of the month through $12,000 at one point. It’s settled lower but is threatening to burst higher again at any point.
The virtual asset has risen again in August following China’s decision to devalue the yuan, a move that’s prompted market makers en masse to pile into non-fiat currencies like precious metals and the likes of Bitcoin. And many people are expecting safe-haven demand for these assets to keep ballooning.
Nigel Green, chief executive of financial consultancy group devere Group, for one predicts: “With the Trump administration now officially labelling China a currency manipulator… investors are set to continue to pile in to decentralised, non-sovereign, secure currencies such as Bitcoin to protect them.”
Is $15,000 set to fall?
Currency devaluation is not the only reason to expect Bitcoin to keep rising either, Green says, with geopolitical issues like US-Chinese trade wars and Brexit also set to keep flight-to-safety buying on the boil. As a consequence, he expects Bitcoin to surge through the $15,000 marker “within weeks.”
Is it time to slip in and grab a slice of the action? Not in my eyes. Green may believe Bitcoin could eventually usurp gold as “the ultimate safe-haven asset,” but that’s one hell of a bold claim to make today.
Scepticism over the legitimacy of the digital asset class remains quite high — investment guru Warren Buffet claimed earlier this year it has “no unique value at all” – and so buying crypto in the hope of making big returns is a mighty risk to take.
You’re better off with stocks
There are much better ways to try and make big riches for retirement, in my opinion, through financial instruments that have been tried and tested for centuries. I’ve recently explained how getting exposure to gold is a good idea, for example and, in particular, through investment in one of London’s dividend-paying precious metals miners such as Centamin or Polymetal International.
The yellow metal recently smashed through the $1,500 per ounce barrier for the first time since 2011, and the prospect of a significant slowdown in global economic growth, in combination with the likelihood of more central bank rate cuts and monetary stimulus, will in all probability keep metal prices rising for some time yet.
Tapping into gold and gold stocks isn’t just a good bet for the here and now, though. Financial market volatility, in response to major macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events, should always be expected. And so getting access to proven safe-havens like precious metals is an essential way to protect your investment portfolio and therefore your ability to retire in luxury.
