Morgan Stanley Sees The US Buying 3.7 Million Bitcoins

Morgan Stanley estimates that bitcoin is now significant enough to be considered an international reserve currency.

BTC: The next international reserve currency

The news did not make much noise because the report is not public. Only a few excerpts are available online, but the gist is there. The big investment bank believes that bitcoin can become an international reserve currency.

Morgan Stanley suggests that the United States should hold the equivalent of $370 billion in bitcoin if the latter were to become a full reserve currency. That is about 18% of bitcoin’s market capitalization (~$2 trillion).

This projection draws a parallel with how central banks manage foreign exchange reserves. According to the IMF, the dollar currently accounts for 57% of the world’s foreign currency reserves. The euro is second at 20%. The Japanese yen and the British pound, along with some other currencies, share the remainder.

In fact, the greenback only accounts for 42% of global reserves if gold is included. The United States holds about $600 billion in gold. That is 17% of all global gold reserves ($3.5 trillion in gold).

As a reminder, Senator Cynthia Lummis suggests buying one million bitcoins. This would cost $100 billion, which is 3.7 times less than what Morgan Stanley suggests (3.7 million BTC)…

If the senator does not succeed in Congress, it is also worth recalling that the Presidential Council on Crypto Assets is to submit by July 22 a strategy aimed at accumulating bitcoins without affecting the budget.

In other words, the United States has already made bitcoin their reserve currency. The only remaining question is: how many BTC? “As many as possible”, according to the White House adviser Bo Hines…

Bitcoin, dominance and barbarous relic

Gold has not said its last word. The yellow metal now weighs $20 trillion, up 86% since the end of 2023. Central banks bought over a thousand tons last year.

But the whole world will soon realize that bitcoin is infinitely superior. Its money supply is fixed (21 million) while more and more gold is mined each year. Not to mention that bitcoin is both a payment network and a store of value, two-in-one. Gold does not circulate on the internet.

We will have a clearer picture when all cryptocurrencies (XRP, Ethereum, etc.) have completely collapsed. The process is underway with Ethereum down almost 80% against BTC since August 2022.

Here is where the main cryptocurrencies stand compared to their record against the dollar:

Bitcoin imitators still represent $970 billion (excluding stablecoins which weigh $246 billion). All this money will sooner or later end up in bitcoin, as well as a good part of the $20 trillion still invested in gold.

Bitcoin dominance is currently back at 66%, its highest level since January 2021. We could quickly rise above 70% if bitcoin surpasses its all-time high of $108,000.

And if Washington sells gold to buy bitcoins, things could move very fast…

Don’t miss our article: Should you buy Gold or bitcoin?