Bitcoin Beat All Equities in 2021, Data Shows

Bitcoin bested all other traditional investment options, posting a 60% return for the year with growing demand among mainstream investors looking to diversify.

Even though Bitcoin is down 32% off its all-time high set in October 2021, it seems that the "first-among" cryptocurrencies is also first among all other capital markets when it comes to return on investment, according to the most recent data from Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs ranks Bitcoin as top investment asset

Despite its price volatility, the bank's research found that Bitcoin outperformed all other equity benchmarks including the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and other high-flying equities such as FAAMG -- an acronym for tech stocks Facebook/Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google/Alphabet.

Here's the respective return percentages rankings of the more familiar assets tracked by the Goldman Sachs 2021 Returns Scorecard. The listing is not readily available on Goldman's website and was posted earlier this week to the verified Twitter account of news editor Frank Chaparro from TheBlock.

Interestingly, as recently as June 2021 Goldman Sachs declared in its report "Digital Assets: Beauty Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder" that Bitcoin was not an "investable asset class" nor was it "digital gold" and that it was best suited for high-risk speculators. A bit surprising how quickly opinions can change.

Bitcoin becomes a preferred vehicle for traditional investors

While there are several cryptocurrencies that outperformed Bitcoin in 2021 -- Shiba Inu produced a mind-blowing 63,000,000% return, while Dogecoin settled for 4,600% -- most traditional investors would be ecstatic with Bitcoin's 60% portfolio pump.

Bitcoin is definitely becoming more popular with conventional investors, as more and more banks try to offer Bitcoin services. Growing availability coupled with Bitcoin's inherent attributes programmed into its software code make it a solid store of value to preserve wealth. Those attributes include scarcity, portability, being easily divisible to smaller amounts, being easily converted to other assets, as well as being readily accepted by millions of people worldwide.

Ironically, the literal "gold standard" when it comes to store of value for thousands of years -- gold -- had a tough year in 2021, posting a 4% loss and making it less attractive to investors. Experts predict that 2022 will be a high-growth year for cryptos thanks to explosive demand for NFTs, play-to-earn gaming, decentralized finance, metaverse expansion and more. As the tide rises for the crypto industry this year, don't be surprised to see the U.S.S. Bitcoin float higher as well.