Celsius CEO on Why Bitcoin Didn’t Explode During COVID-19 Pandemic

Alex Mashinsky, chief executive officer (CEO) of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network, thinks Bitcoin (BTC) hasn’t become enough of a non-correlated asset for investors to turn to it in the current financial crisis.

In an April 22 interview on the David Pakman Show, Mashinsky said the cryptocurrency didn’t see a significant surge at the start of the pandemic because “if you take any snippet over the last year, you would see very high correlation [between BTC and] the stock market.”

This correlation combined with the current crisis may be enough to deter many investors from Bitcoin. While Cointelegraph has reported Bitcoin was more correlated with gold following the March 12 crash rather than stocks, crypto in general still has a reputation for volatility.

“Five years ago,” Mashinsky said, “BTC looked volatile against stocks” but now it “looks more stable than the stock market — it only moves 2% a day, and the stock market moves 5–10%.” 

Using Netflix…