Goldman Sachs report: Asian hedge funds are not optimistic about Bitcoin, Bitcoin is the least popular investment among CIOs

According to a recent report released by Goldman Sachs, Asian hedge funds may be less bullish on Bitcoin than their U.S. counterparts.

Goldman Sachs strategists surveyed 25 CIOs from a variety of long-only and hedge funds about their favorite investment styles and asset classes.

The survey results show that 35% of CIOs consider Bitcoin to be their least favorite asset, followed by new IPOs (25%) and interest-sensitive investments (20%). Less than 1% of chief investment officers said Bitcoin is their favorite investment asset class.

The survey also found that CIOs were most optimistic about Chinese A shares and Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index, with inflation and interest rates among their biggest concerns.

About 55% of participants said they favor growth assets, with only 5% naming growth assets as their least favorite.

“We held two CIO roundtables with 25 CIOs from a variety of long-only and hedge funds. Their favorites were growth assets, but their least favorite was Bitcoin,” Goldman Sachs strategists said.

Unlike Goldman Sachs, Bank of America's May fund manager survey results show that the "most crowded" trade in the market has changed from long tech stocks to long Bitcoin. However, 75% of respondents said that "the most popular cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) is in a bubble."

In addition, the survey found that chief investment officers' biggest concerns about the market are inflation and interest rates, and the Federal Reserve is expected to begin reducing asset purchases in the first half of 2022 and raise interest rates for the first time in the second half of next year.

Troy Gayeski, co-chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager at SkyBridge Capital, said that although Bitcoin is more volatile, it has more room to rise than gold.

“We’re going to stick with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies simply because we think there’s a chance of higher upside,” he said.

Gayeski also said that the firm's Bitcoin Fund has risen 51.2% since its inception in late December through June 1, and that investors seeking monetary alternatives as global debt swells should look to Bitcoin.

According to the weekly report released by Coinshares, the total outflow of digital asset investment products last week was $94 million. Only Bitcoin investment products saw a large outflow of funds, while the rest of the products saw inflows. Bitcoin investment products saw an outflow of $141 million, the largest single-week outflow on record, indicating that investors are still cautious about Bitcoin. Ethereum investment products saw a total inflow of $33 million, and it remains the preferred altcoin for investors.