Bitcoin and Ether can ‘greatly improve’ portfolio performance: BBVA
Exposure to Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies, will significantly boost the returns of traditional investment portfolios.
Adding Bitcoin 
BTCUSD and Ether 
ETHUSD to investor portfolios will “greatly improve” the return on investment (ROI), according to Philippe Meyer, head of digital and blockchain solutions at BBVA.
During a panel at the Web3 Corporate Innovation Day, Meyer said that the firm had observed that introducing a small portion of digital assets like Bitcoin or Ether is “greatly improving the performance” of investment portfolios:
Meyer said that a portfolio allocation of 3%–5% in cryptocurrency can significantly boost investor returns:
Meyer’s comments come amid a crypto bull cycle, with Bitcoin’s price up over 146% over the past year, trading above the $65,383 mark, according to CoinMarketCap data.
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Bitcoin triples the return of the S&P 500 in 2024
During 2024, Bitcoin’s price has significantly outperformed the return of the S&P 500, the stock market index tracking the performance of the 500 largest publicly listed firms.
Since the start of the year, Bitcoin’s price is up over 47% year-to-date (YTD), while the S&P 500 only rose 15% — meaning that BTC has outperformed the index by over threefold, TradingView data shows.
Zooming out, the discrepancy in returns is even larger. On the yearly timeframe, BTC is up 147%, while the S&P 500 is only up 24%, meaning that BTC has outperformed the index by over sixfold.
However, Bitcoin has lost some steam in the short term, falling 2.3% on the monthly chart, while the S&P 500 rose 2.8% during the same timeframe.
Bitcoin’s price remains dragged down by ETF outflows
Bitcoin’s price is currently in a correction, following slowing inflows from the United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Last week, the U.S. Bitcoin ETFs broke a streak of 20 consecutive days of net positive inflows and registered three days of negative outflows. The ETFs saw over $145 million worth of outflows on June 17, according to Farside Investors data.
The primary reason behind the outflows is ETF investors lacking conviction and selling below their initial cost basis, according to Jag Kooner, head of derivatives at Bitfinex.
Kooner told Cointelegraph:
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