Mohamed El-Erian Argues Bitcoin’s Drop Is Due To Flight of Speculative ‘Tourist’ Investors, But This Analyst Says It’s ‘Not the End of the World’

Economist Mohamed El-Erian said on Tuesday that Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is still dominated by “tourist” investors who fuel short-term price swings, pointing to the heavy outflows from the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT).

Flight Of Speculative Buyers Behind Bitcoin’s Decline?

El-Erian, who is the Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, argued that Bitcoin’s investor pyramid remains “upside down,” i.e, while the base of long-term holders has grown, the speculative “tourist” owners still dominate the top layer.

“Bitcoin’s recent price declines have been associated with a significant flight of these top-layer tourist investors,” El-Erian said, highlighting the sharp outflows from the iShares Bitcoin ETF, the world’s largest cryptocurrency-focused investment vehicle.

The ETF has recorded about $2.27 billion in outflows this month, according to data from SoSo Value, a dramatic turnaround from $3.93 billion in net inflows in October.