JPMorgan: Bitcoin is displacing gold as the debasement trade after Iran conflict!

JPMorgan analysts led by managing director Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou say the debasement trade is rotating from gold to bitcoin — bitcoin ETFs have now seen inflows for a third straight month in May, while gold ETFs are still struggling to recover outflows that began when the Iran conflict erupted in March.

The shift isn't confined to retail. JPMorgan's positioning proxies based on CME bitcoin futures and offshore perpetual futures are making new highs, signalling that institutional investors have also increased exposure. Momentum signals for bitcoin — used as a proxy for CTA positioning — have rebounded sharply since the conflict began, while gold's equivalent signals lag.

Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder globally, is also a factor. With ownership split roughly equally between retail and institutional investors, JPMorgan estimates its current accumulation pace could reach…