Ric Edelman says Bitcoin is the first “really new asset class” in 150 years

Ric Edelman, founder of the financial consulting firm Edelman Financial Engines, described Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto assets as a “completely new and different asset class” that has nothing in common with commodities: staple foods such as stocks, bonds, real estate, oil or commodities, just to name a few to name a few.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, the financial advisor described Bitcoin and crypto as “the first really new asset class in around 150 years”. According to Edelman, this is not because the gold market already has an innovative asset class such as cryptocurrencies.

As part of the discussion, Edelman announced that he is helping educate financial advisors about the need to be more open about cryptocurrencies as a potential portfolio diversifier.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, a recent survey by corporate research firm Opinium found that more than 90% of 200 independent financial advisors in the UK were asked against investing in crypto for their clients.

Without specifically responding to the poll, Edelman described the reservations of the Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) as biased, stating:

“Most finance professionals have been in business for a long time […] But the more experience you have, the more talent you have, the more difficult it is for you to find your way around Bitcoin. “

Since portfolio diversification and rebalancing are popular IFA strategies, according to Edelman, BTC should be an obvious choice.

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Edelman goes on to argue that financial advisors only need to look at the technological basics of cryptocurrencies to see that cryptocurrencies don’t belong to the same group as tulips or hats.

For Edelman, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in general is “the most powerful commercial innovation since the rise of the internet itself”.

As early as 2019, the financial advisor commented that an exchange-traded Bitcoin fund was inevitable in the US.