State Street worries about crypto rally

The bitcoin rally is generating a false sense of security among investors, according to the strategist behind the so-called granddaddy of gold exchange-traded funds.

State Street Global Advisors’ George Milling-Stanley warns cryptocurrency plays don’t offer the stability of gold.

“Bitcoin, pure and simple, it’s a return play, and I think that people have been jumping onto the return plays,” the firm’s chief gold strategist said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week.

Milling-Stanley’s comments came as his firm’s SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) celebrated its 20-year anniversary this week. It is the world’s largest physically backed gold ETF, and it’s up more than 30% in 2024.

“Gold was $450 an ounce [20 years ago],” said Milling-Stanley. “It’s now five times what that price was then. If you look at a five-times price, then gold should be somewhere over $100,000 in twenty years’ time.”

Gold just had its best weekly performance since March 2023. Gold futures settled at $2,712.20 on Friday, the highest settle since Nov. 5. Gold prices are now just 3% below the record high hit on Oct. 30.

Bitcoin, which has surged since the Nov. 5 election, is having a banner year, too. It hit an all-time high on Friday.

Milling-Stanley thinks investors who treasure gold’s safety qualities should reconsider piling into bitcoin. He suggests the crypto world is trying to manipulate them.

“This is why they [bitcoin promoters] called it mining. There’s no mining involved. This is a computer operation, pure and simple,” he said. “But they called it mining because they wanted to seem like gold — maybe take some of the aura away from the gold.”

Yet, he acknowledges it is unclear how high the yellow metal can actually go.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen over the next 20 years except it’s going to be a fun ride,” Milling-Stanley said. “I think that gold is going to do well.”