Key Takeaways
- • Bitwise Investments' research team found that adding bitcoin to a traditional 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio would have contributed positively to returns in 76% of one-year periods, 94% of two-year periods, and 100% of three-year periods since 2014, assuming quarterly rebalancing.
- • The study, an updated Bitwise white paper, drew on more than a decade of bitcoin return data and tested a range of rebalancing strategies, allocation sizes, and holding periods.
- • The analysis also examines bitcoin's influence on portfolio risk metrics, which the publisher describes as counterintuitive.
- • Bitwise, a crypto asset manager with $9 billion in client assets and over 70 investment products, positions the research as guidance for investors weighing a bitcoin allocation.
Summary
Bitwise Investments has published an updated research study evaluating how bitcoin has affected the risk-adjusted returns of a diversified portfolio. The Bitwise research team tested the historical impact of adding bitcoin to a traditional 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio, using more than a decade of bitcoin return data. The study examined a range of rebalancing strategies, allocation sizes and holding periods.
Assuming quarterly rebalancing, bitcoin would have contributed positively to a diversified portfolio's returns in 76% of one-year periods, 94% of two-year periods and 100% of three-year periods since 2014, according to the study as described by the publisher. The longer the holding period, the more consistent the contribution in the analysis.
The white paper also highlights what the publisher calls bitcoin's counterintuitive influence on portfolio risk metrics and addresses three key questions investors should consider when evaluating a bitcoin allocation. The source material does not detail those three questions or the specific risk figures.
Bitwise describes itself as a global crypto asset manager with $9 billion in client assets, more than 70 investment products spanning ETFs, separately managed accounts, private funds, DeFi strategies and staking, and a nine-year track record. The firm says it serves more than 5,500 private wealth teams, RIAs, family offices and institutional investors, as well as 21 banks and broker-dealers, with offices in San Francisco, New York and London. As the study is produced by an issuer with a commercial interest in crypto products, its conclusions reflect the firm's own analysis of historical data.
Assuming quarterly rebalancing, bitcoin would have contributed positively to a diversified portfolio's returns in 76% of one-year periods, 94% of two-year periods and 100% of three-year periods since 2014, according to the study as described by the publisher. The longer the holding period, the more consistent the contribution in the analysis.
The white paper also highlights what the publisher calls bitcoin's counterintuitive influence on portfolio risk metrics and addresses three key questions investors should consider when evaluating a bitcoin allocation. The source material does not detail those three questions or the specific risk figures.
Bitwise describes itself as a global crypto asset manager with $9 billion in client assets, more than 70 investment products spanning ETFs, separately managed accounts, private funds, DeFi strategies and staking, and a nine-year track record. The firm says it serves more than 5,500 private wealth teams, RIAs, family offices and institutional investors, as well as 21 banks and broker-dealers, with offices in San Francisco, New York and London. As the study is produced by an issuer with a commercial interest in crypto products, its conclusions reflect the firm's own analysis of historical data.
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