Investors in bitcoin have managed to amass billions of dollars in 2017 due to the phenomenal bitcoin price surge and according to statistics, bitcoin investment returns have trumped those of gold, stocks and other investments in 2017.
Statistics indicate that investment returns for cryptocurrency has outperformed gold for a second year running. If we go by numbers released by Forbes, Bitcoin Investment Trust gained 1407.42 per cent in comparison to SPDR Gold Shares that have only managed to increase by 11.93 per cent. This is the second time in as many years that Bitcoin has pulled rank over both gold and Wall Street.
While gold may not have increased substantially, it did register more growth than the S&P 500 and 20-year US Treasury bonds.
Massive returns on investment in bitcoin is definitely worth noting, but as is the case with all investments, you cannot determine with 100 per cent accuracy on how bitcoin will perform over the course of next few days, months of years by looking at past data. However, even though Bitcoin has been around for a short time compared to gold and fiat currencies, it already offers some important benefits.
One of the positive factors for bitcoin is that it is a limited currency unlike fiat that governments continue to print day in and day out depending on their need. This effectively means that the buying power if bitcoin will never diminish. Anonymity is another aspect. Despite being decentralized, blockchain technology offers perfect record keeping, which eliminates mistakes and the opportunity for fraud and theft.
Another thing working in favor of bitcoin is its international nature that enables transboundry transactions without any government oversight.
One of the things that affect bitcoin negatively its its volatility. The year 2017 has certainly been very positive for the crypto, investors still remain cautious against dumping all your gold for bitcoins. The crypto industry has an intrinsic unpredictability that results in dramatic price drops like the corrections experienced last month. Not to mention that gold has been a stable and reliable store of value for thousands of years and will continue to do so.