What the Oil Market Says About Bitcoin’s ‘Safe Haven’ Status

Monday’s historic financial tumult reached beyond stocks, sinking commodities and even bitcoin markets.

“I don’t think any asset is safe right now – except cash, U.S. dollars,” said Ali Khedery, formerly Exxon’s senior Middle East advisor and now CEO of U.S.-based strategy firm Dragoman Ventures.

While bitcoin prices dropped nearly 10 percent over the weekend, Saudi Arabia slashed its export oil prices when Russia refused to support an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effort to reduce oil production. Coronavirus quarantines mean fewer cars on the road, economic slowdown and less demand for oil, experts warn.

Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData described the current state as an “oversupplied” oil market where Saudi Arabia made a drastic move, harming everyone’s bottom line, in an effort to “to get Russia back to the negotiating table.”

Smith said it will be difficult for nations to reconfigure their supply chains to…