Bitcoin tops $44,000 in tentative comeback as portfolio hedge

Bitcoin kept advancing on Tuesday, briefly trading above $44,000 for the first time since February 17 amid mounting signs that the war in Ukraine is bolstering demand for cryptocurrencies.

The largest cryptocurrency rose as much as 6 per cent to $44,183 and traded at $43,400 at 12.54pm in Hong Kong, gaining along with other major digital tokens. Equities benchmarks across Asia were also mostly up, with Japan’s Topix index rising 1 per cent.

Bitcoin’s outperformance over the past few days of intensifying combat in Ukraine and escalating sanctions on Russia has some bulls pointing to a break from the narrative that crypto is just another risk asset. Adam Farthing, chief risk officer for Japan at crypto trading firm B2C2, said Bitcoin could “de-link from risk” and start trading more like a hedge to geopolitical instability and inflation.

“Bitcoin can benefit from some of the instability which will likely befall the dollar and euro” as a result of worsening international tensions, said Louis Curran, managing partner at Gigabyte Investment, in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

While still elevated at 0.55, Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 has come off after surpassing 0.7 earlier this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A correlation of 1 means two assets move perfectly in tandem, while a zero correlation displays their fluctuations are wholly independent.

“We note a few indications that Bitcoin may be at – or near to – a turning point,” B2C2’s Farthing said in a note. “The fact that put skew is not trading near the recent highs indicates the market may be starting to worry about being underinvested in Bitcoin,” he wrote, referring to the relationship between the price of bullish and bearish options on the digital token.