Bloomberg’s ETF Analyst Says Bitcoin Funds Will Triple Gold Hours After Admitting They Burned Cash

Quick Read

• Balchunas conceded IBIT burned cash, then forecast Bitcoin ETFs will triple GLD, despite GLD outperforming IBIT by roughly 52% over the past year.

• Balchunas' long-term bull case rests on younger investors defaulting to Bitcoin over gold as they inherit generational wealth and institutions mature their allocations.

Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas told his followers on X Thursday that Bitcoin ETFs will one day "triple gold in assets". He posted that forecast at 12:11 PM ET. Ninety minutes earlier, at 10:46 AM ET, he conceded on the same platform that by one common industry definition Bitcoin ETFs have "in fact burned cash."

The scoreboard between the two flagship funds makes the split-screen even sharper. Over the past year, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT) is down 34.44%, while SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) is up 17.67% and up 143.99% over five years.

Two Posts, Ninety Minutes Apart

The Bloomberg analyst's morning began with a definitional retreat. Replying to a follower, he wrote: "Burn cash = flows are greater than dif in assets from beginning to end of period. In that def it has in fact burned cash." Translation for anyone who doesn't live in fund-flow spreadsheets: more money came in than the assets grew to reflect, meaning the price action ate the inflows.