UK Fund Ruffer Trims Investment in Gold in Favor of Bitcoin

Ruffer Investment Company Limited, the UK headquartered investment manager, has included Bitcoin (BTC) as one of the assets held in its portfolio, highlighting the continuing mainstream adoption of cryptos.

Ruffer, whose shares are listed on the LSE (London Stock Exchange), has revealed its latest Bitcoin investment mechanism.

In a routine performance report, Ruffer stated that it has included Bitcoin to its Multi-Strategies Fund, mainly as a protective step relative to the “continued devaluation” of fiat currency. Bitcoin currently accounts for 2.5% of the funds aggregate assets.

The assignment was carried out in November after Ruffer trimmed its precious metal investments in support of Bitcoin.

The firm said:

“We see this as a small but potent insurance policy against the continuing devaluation of the world’s major currencies. Bitcoin diversifies the company’s (much larger) investments in gold and inflation-linked bonds, and acts as a hedge to some of the monetary and market risks that we see.”

The value of assets under the management of Ruffer, which was established in 1994, was €20.30 billion ($27.2 billion) at the end of November 30. The company has about 6,600 customers across the globe, mainly made up of families, individuals, charities and pension funds.

The steps taken by Ruffer reflect the latest opinion of JP Morgan Chase that Bitcoin is slowly grabbing the market share of gold. Last week, in an research report to clients, quantitative strategies head Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou stated that Bitcoin adoption could pave way for “structural” issues for the yellow metal.

Analysts opined as follows:

“If this medium to longer-term thesis proves right, the price of gold would suffer from a structural headwind over the coming years.”

With respect to Bitcoin, the year has seen huge changes as companies such as Grayscale, MicroStrategy, PayPal and MassMutual have brought about a big change in cryptocurrency sector.

Erik Voorhees, CEO of crypto pioneer and ShapeShift, trusts that financial giants and institutions will safeguard assets such as Bitcoin from attempts by government to gain control. With involvement of key institutions, Bitcoin market is transforming into an instinctive “bulwark” against obtrusive rules.