Gerald Moser, the chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, claims investors should keep Bitcoin out of their investment portfolios. Bitcoin is too volatile to provide diversification benefits for large scale investors, according to the executive. He believes it is more favorable to invest in equities and commodities instead of the leading cryptocurrency.
<h2><strong>Bitcoin Placed in High-Risk Category
</strong></h2>
Bitcoin’s <a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/bitcoin-breaks-40k-barrier-and-reaches-new-all-time-high/">recent peak rally</a> of $40,000 has caught the attention of many large scale investors. However, the chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank doesn’t seem to find it impressive.

Moser told the <a href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/barclays-private-bank-slams-bitcoin-as-almost-uninvestable-20210119" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Financial News</a> that the extreme volatility associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is what makes them almost uninvestable, saying:

<i>"While it is nigh on impossible to forecast an expected return for bitcoin, its volatility makes the asset almost ‘uninvestable’ from a portfolio perspective."</i>

The executive at the private bank placed Bitcoin in a high-risk category, alongside equities and oil investments. He not only considers Bitcoin (BTC) to be a bad investment but also a poor risk diversifier.

Moser calculated that the weekly return correlations since 2016 show that bitcoin is not correlated with any asset. He, in fact, claimed that the leading cryptocurrency underperformed equities over the last three corrections since 2015.

Moser assured that large scale investors are not comfortable with volatile assets, regardless of their glorifying returns, saying:

<i>“Many would probably throw the cryptocurrency out of any portfolio in a typical mean-variance optimization.”</i>
<h2><strong>Institutional BTC Investors Not as Influential</strong></h2>
When asked about what explains the increased institutional investment in the leading cryptocurrency that resulted in the price of the cryptocurrency exceeding new highs. Moser explains that it is only a short term phenomenon:

<em>"The performance of the cryptocurrency has been mostly driven by retail investors joining a seemingly unsustainable rally rather than institutional money investing on a long-term basis."</em>

Barclays Private Bank offers personalized bank accounts and mortgages as well as wealth management services, catering to high net worth individuals. As of 2019, it was the fourth-largest private bank in the UK, with £61 billion in assets under management.

Barclays Private Bank Executive Says Bitcoin Is ‘Almost Uninvestable'

Gerald Moser, the chief market strategist at Barclays Private Bank, claims extreme volatility associated with Bitcoin is what makes it almost uninvestable.

Jafrin is a cryptocurrency journalist/researcher fascinated by the world of decentralization. She is hopeful towards blockchain’s innovation and its potential to reshape the world for good. Currently, she is bringing out the best of cryptosphere via covering the latest ins and outs of the blockchain space.

Barclays Private Bank Executive Says Bitcoin Is ‘Almost Uninvestable'

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