In today’s crypto market discussion, Cointelegraph is joined by crypto analyst Naeem Aslam and Tokenmetrics CEO Ian Balina to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the cryptocurrency markets.
Will the economic impacts of the coronavirus let people flock to cryptocurrencies as a refuge?
Naeem Aslam is skeptical of Bitcoin’s alleged “safe haven” status, pointing out that Bitcoin is a safe haven from central bank monetary policy and not from infectious diseases:
“I think when we talk about Bitcoin as a safe haven asset, we are really talking about in relation to central banks and their monetary policies. Right now, we don’t have that fear in the market right now. Fear of the market concerns the influence of the coronavirus […] when we have something wrong with monetary policy, then, yes, we could see the momentum coming in because, of course, Bitcoin associates all of the fundamentals with traditional monetary policy conducted by central banks. “
Ian Balina rejected the suggestion that crypto and coronavirus are correlated, stating:
“Personally, we do not invest or trade in events […] the coronavirus has not been shown to be correlated with Bitcoin or crypto in general. So, because Bitcoin is a global asset class with many global events happening in tandem and it is very difficult to identify a particular event as the catalyst, I think maybe the stock markets indirectly have a huge selloff where over 1.7 trillion dollars have been lost in a few days and i think crypto could be really just playing out of that. “
The pair also shares its long-term outlook for the crypto markets, the likely impact of the upcoming halving, and whether Ethereum will surpass Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization over the next ten years. Do not miss it!
