Bitcoin ETF Flows Are 'Massive Red Flag,' Analyst Says

Jim Bianco of Bianco Research has poured cold water on the success of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, arguing that the massive concentration of the largest cryptocurrency in traditional finance is not "something to be celebrated." In fact, according to Bianco, this should be treated as a major red flag.

According to the analyst, the price of Bitcoin should have hit the $100,000 level months ago based on all the bullish catalysts such as massive ETF inflows and the Federal Reserve rate cut that took place in September. However, this wasn't the case.

The price of Bitcoin failed to log a new all-time high earlier this week despite the record-breaking inflows recorded by BlackRock's IBIT.

Bianco has noted that the gold price is substantially higher due to ETF inflows.

According to the researcher, gold ETFs receive mostly fresh money, but Bitcoin ETF flows are mostly "on-chain or centralized exchange money." Hence, this is why the Bitcoin price is struggling to surge higher.

"Spot BTC ETF trades are only $16k. This seems to be money shifting from former Coinbase retail accounts to the ETF, so it's not new money," he noted.

This analysis, however, has expectedly attracted some backlash from Bitcoin enthusiasts. For instance, Bitcoin maximalist Fred Krueger claimed that Bianco's statement was not supported by evidence. Moreover, he has noted that Bitcoin is up as much as 65% on the year-to-date basis, significantly outperforming the yellow metal.

The price of Bitcoin recently dipped to the $67,000 level.