BlackRock digital assets head sees Bitcoin as 'risk-off'

Even though Bitcoin has been highly correlated as of late with the price moves of US equities, BlackRock Inc.’s head of digital assets says it’s a likely misnomer to call the cryptocurrency a “risk-on” asset. 

Stocks, commodities and high yield bonds are generally considered risk-on assets since they usually perform well during periods of market optimism and economic expansions. Assets such as gold are often popular with investors during times of uncertainty. 

“Gold shows a lot of the same patterns,” BlackRock’s Robbie Mitchnick said in a Bloomberg Television interview Tuesday. “Where you have these temporary periods, but long term [correlation is] close to zero.”

No single country or government controls Bitcoin, and it’s scarce and decentralized, he said.

“When we think about Bitcoin, we think about primarily as an emerging global monetary alternative,” Mitchnick said. “Scarce, global, decentralized, non-sovereign asset. And it’s an asset that has no country-specific risk, that has no counterparty risk.”

BlackRock runs exchange-traded funds, investing in Bitcoin and Ether. But while many investors view Bitcoin as digital gold — something that holds value at times of stress — the narrative for Ether among many institutional clients “is a little less clear,” Mitchnick said. Ether is used by a variety of apps on the Ethereum blockchain.

Bitcoin is up 49% so far this year, and Ether has appreciated 15%, largely thanks to the approval of ETFs holding both tokens earlier this year.