Bank of America’s Hit Piece on Bitcoin
Is Bitcoin dirty?
This month Bank of America Global Research issued a 49-page report on Bitcoin titled “Bitcoin’s Dirty Little Secrets” that comes across as a hit piece.
It has five main sections:
- What drives Bitcoin prices? 12 pages
- How does Bitcoin compare to traditional portfolio assets? 9 pages
- How does Bitcoin score on ESG? 11 pages
- Are CBDCs Kryptonite for crypto? 6 pages
- Is DeFi potentially more disruptive than Bitcoin? 7 pages
Right on page 1, the executive summary, the plan of attack is laid out clearly (italics mine):
“Bitcoin supply is artificially scarce, demand drives prices”
“No good reason to own BTC unless you see prices going up”
“Our Bitcoin ESG read: low on E, mixed on S and G”
“CBDCs are kryptonite for crypto, but DeFi is intriguing”
These follow the outline, with the last statement collapsing the last two sections.
So let’s look at these in turn.
“Bitcoin supply is artificially scarce”
I object, as does the Bitcoin community, to the term “artificial.” The scarcity is by design. It is a deliberate feature, not a bug. For money to fulfill the store of value requirement, it must be scarce. Indeed Bitcoin’s “minting” or “mining” or emission schedule…
