Travis Kling, the chief investment officer of crypto investment firm Ikigai Asset Management, has described Bitcoin (BTC) as insurance against both hurricanes and U.S. fiscal policy.
On March 20, Kling tweeted that an oncoming hurricane that will soon hit the U.S. economy and “do a lot of damage.” However, all is not lost, with Kling advising that the recent crypto market crash has made half-priced hurricane insurance available to all:
“You can still buy hurricane insurance. People panic sold the insurance policy bc they wanted cash. Now it's half priced from a month ago even though the hurricane is clearly here now.“
Hedge fund manager likens Bitcoin to “hurricane insurance”
Earlier the same day, Kling posted that BTC “is an insurance policy against the largest monetary experiment in human history,” accompanying the tweet with a graph of recent annual U.S. budget deficits.
Kling’s tweet comes after the recent crypto market meltdown left Bitcoin’s long presumed safe-haven status in question — with Bitcoin plummeting 50% within 30 hours alongside hefty losses in the traditional market following U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban announcement on March 11.
Is Bitcoin a safe haven asset?
However, many within the cryptocurrency community appear not to have been naive regarding the impact of a recession or financial shock on the cryptocurrency markets. On Jan 3. Andreas Antonopoulos said that crypto will likely crash hard during the outset of a mainstream financial meltdown, adding:
“And the reason it will crash hard is because a lot of the venture capital, corporate investments and private investment from individuals that is based on cheap money and disposable income and excess cash in portfolios etc., like in any other part of the economy, will dry up.”
Antonopolous’ sentiments were later echoed by Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano on a March 12 episode of his podcast — where Pomp argued that the crash was caused by a liquidity crisis in which “investors all rush to the exit doors at the same time” in a bid to realize fiat.
Pompliano predicted that Bitcoin, like gold during the 2008 financial crisis, will quickly recover from the initial liquidity crisis as governments cut interest rates and initiate quantitative easing — driving investors toward “safe haven assets” and “sound” monetary commodities.
Last month, the Virgin Galactic chairman Chamath Palihapitiya also likened BTC to insurance.