Bitcoin mania is making investors ignore other assets that have far more upside potential, an investment chief says
- Bitcoin-focused investors are losing out on the potential of other assets like oil, Rich Bernstein said.
- People don't care even though oil is riding high in a bull market, he said.
- Bitcoin is up 37% so far this year, while Brent crude is trading 44% higher during the same period.
Investment adviser Rich Bernstein said in a CNBC interview Monday that bitcoin is a bubble, and crypto mania is making investors ignore other asset classes that have more potential.
Institutional acceptance of bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies has led to mainstream adoption, making it one of the most trending alternative assets. The fear of missing out on the cryptocurrency buzz led to a jump in the number of crypto wallets to 73 million in May this year, from about 49 million at the same time in 2020, according to data from Statista.
"It's pretty wild," Bernstein, the CEO and CIO of Richard Bernstein Advisors, told CNBC's "Trading Nation." "Bitcoin has been in a bear market, and everybody loves the asset. And oil has been in a bull market, and it's basically, you never hear anything about it. People don't care."
According to the star investor, oil is the most ignored asset class and commodity traders have good reason for optimism.
"We've got this major bull market going on in commodities, and all people are saying is that it doesn't matter," he said.
Bitcoin was last trading 1.3% higher at around $39,815 as of 7:55 a.m. ET on Tuesday, but it's fallen more than 36% in the past two months. Brent crude rose 1.2% to $73.75 and West Texas Intermediate rose 1.4% to $71.90. Both are up 97% and 89%, respectively.
By officially establishing itself as an asset class, the most popular digital asset has had a historic year as Wall Street titans like Goldman Sachs opened its trading floor to it. But Bernstein thinks bitcoin's bull run isn't sustainable in the longer term.
Investors could suffer portfolio declines over the next two to five years if they overlook other asset classes, he said. "The side of that see-saw you want to be on is the kind of pro-inflation side which most people are not investing in," he said.
Bernstein listed energy, materials, and industrials as his top bets "because that's where the growth is going to be" within the next six to 18 months.