By
Svetlana Soroka
April 26th, 2024
Alex Krüger believes the current market dip is a good entry point for those who have no knowledge of the space to get in on board.
American multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) is set to release a new report to validate the progress of the cryptocurrency industry over the ages. A peek into a part of the report was unveiled on Twitter by Alex Krüger, a top crypto analyst and founder of asset management firm Aike Capital, who notably gained early access to it. The report was titled “Crypto, a new asset class.”
Crypto, a new asset class – quite a comprehensive report by Goldman. pic.twitter.com/FP2sewJCTx
— Alex Krüger (@krugermacro) May 21, 2021
The report dwelt on the unique nature of some of the most popular digital currencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Polkadot (DOT), and Internet Computer (ICP) amongst others. The stance of the investment bank was solidified based on its probe of the major figures or investors in the digital currency ecosystem of today. The experts surveyed by the bank include Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd (OTCMKTS: BRPHF) CEO Michael Nogoratz, Global FX’s Zach Pandl, Michael Gronager of Chainlaysis, and critics such as Nouriel Roubini.
The report highlighted the cryptocurrencies by their market capitalization, functions, objectives, year of establishment, and consensus mechanism. Based on these parameters, the bank recognized Bitcoin’s market cap as $700 billion, and that the premier cryptocurrency serves primarily as a currency, allowing for peer-2-peer transactions. Ethereum, Cardano, and Polkadot were described as smart contract application blockchain platforms, Binance Coin as a currency and application utility crypto.
In addition to Bitcoin, Goldman Sachs recognized XRP and Dogecoin as currencies while Tether is recognized as a stablecoin. Mike Novogratz invalidated the market growth saying that the inflow of institutional investors is proof of the attractiveness of the respective digital currencies. Michael Sonnenshein, the Chief Executive Officer of Grayscale Investments, commented on the role of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation saying the crypto is “a way to hedge against inflation and currency debasement.”
Goldman Sachs Crypto Report Highlights Current and Past Market Trends
The Goldman Sachs report also detailed the high correlation between the past price trends of Bitcoin, and what is currently playing out at this time. The Bank’s chart showed that Bitcoin has always been swinging in tandem with high volatility based on its response to different regulatory backlashes.
Goldman Sachs noted that the Chinese government banned Initial Currency Offerings (ICOs) back in September 2017, a move that was preceded by a ban on crypto exchanges. While the market reacted to this news at the time, the coin’s price surged to an all-time high just by the end of the year, attaining a price of over $19,000 for the first time.
Today, the market has seen the inflow of institutional money from the likes of MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: MSTR), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Chinese tech firm, Meitu Inc amongst others. While the involvement of these firms appears to have strengthened the market, new FUD compared to what has been recorded before are arising and suppressing the market growth. The Goldman Sachs report highlighted Tesla’s reversal of its decision to accept Bitcoin as a payment method and the Chinese mining outage as some of the major downturns the market is facing at this time.
New Hope for the Market
With the global digital currency market on a freefall to levels not seen in months, the market needs a very strong fundamental to revive it from this unprecedented downturn. Bitcoin has retraced from its ATH and is currently trading at $33,799.01 according to CoinMarketCap. The plunge is encompassing with every major coin shedding off the gains accrued in the past months. The global crypto market cap has dropped from a high of $2.4 trillion to $1.34 trillion at the time of writing.
The new report brings new hope for the industry as it marks a sharp twist to the view of the space by the banking giant who initially claimed in May 2020 that crypto is not an asset class. Following the report, Alex Krüger believes the current market dip is a good entry point for those who have no knowledge of the space to get in on board.