Investment Conundrums: Barclays' Hobbs on why gold and bitcoin look 'vulnerable' to real interest rate increases

Can investors stomach the volatility cryptocurrencies may bring?

clock • 4 min read

Gold and bitcoin look "very vulnerable" to a rising real interest rate environment that could leave the two assets looking like "flightless birds", according to Barclays Wealth Management & Investments' CIO Will Hobbs.

Gold has long been seen as a hedge against equity risk, while bitcoin has been gaining traction as a potential gold-alternative, with investment management firm Ruffer claiming their recently purchased position in the cryptocurrency protected them against monetary risks they saw as being elevated. The bitcoin price continues to climb, as many other institutions have begun dipping their toes in. The asset climbed to a fresh record high of over $48,000 after Tesla said it had invested $1.5bn of the cash on its balance sheet in the cryptocurrency. Twitter and Mastercard said they were consi...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Bonds

Trustpilot