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.

Bloomberg Analyst Says Not The End Of The World

However, the CNBC report and chart cited by El-Erian sparked some controversy.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said the chart, which oddly included outflows for October as well, was “way off.”

“Not sure if bad data or purposely altered to try and scare ppl,” Balchunas said, attaching a Bloomberg chart that matched the SoSo Value data.

Balchunas said November outflows are less than 3% of the fund's total assets under management. “Not exactly the end of the world, I know.”

A Tough Month For BTC

El-Erian’s observations come amid a sharp correction in the Bitcoin market. From the all-time highs set last month, the apex cryptocurrency crashed to $81,000, wiping out all its gains this year.

Moreover, spot Bitcoin ETFs have collectively recorded about $3.57 billion in outflows so far this month.

El Erian previously admitted to making “behavioral mistakes” with Bitcoin. In a 2021 CNBC interview, he revealed that he bought Bitcoin during the “crypto winter” of 2018 but sold too early.

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $87,815.31, down 0.18% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Shares of IBIT rose 0.22% in after-hours trading to $49.67. The stock closed 2% lower at $49.56 during Tuesday’s regular trading session.

Benzinga's proprietary Edge Rankings show Momentum as the strongest category for IBIT at 23.15/100. To see how the stock ranks for Value, Growth and other indicators, click here.