Crypto wants to be an asset class, but what – and whom – is it actually for?

As more people use it as an investment, current political events reveal crypto’s truer purpose.

With a spectacular jump at the end of August, Bitcoin has climbed above $80,000 in one of its strongest rallies in years.

A key driver, according to Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, has been the so-called debasement trade: the bet that governments around the world –primarily in the US – will water down their currencies. As investors position for a weaker dollar amid worries about US debt and government borrowing, Bitcoin has become the digital alternative to gold.

Another point driving crypto adoption has been the great effort that has been spent to establish it as an asset class. Bitcoin exchange-traded products hold roughly 7% of the total supply, according to WisdomTree data from January 2026, and public companies and governments hold a further 8% between them.

For private investors, there is a portfolio argument as well. According to WisdomTree research, a 1% Bitcoin allocation would have lifted the Sharpe ratio (a measure of return per unit of risk) of a portfolio of 60% global equities and 40% bonds from 0.52 to 0.59 over the decade to the end of 2025. The improvement kept growing with the allocation, reaching 0.94 at 10%, although portfolio volatility rose from 8.76% to 11.30% along the way.