John D’agostino, head of Strategy at Coinbase Institutional, has paid a visit to CNBC’s Squawk Box show to share his take on what has fueled today’s Bitcoin’s brief surge above $105,000. He also revealed a very important thing about Bitcoin ETFs that has been largely overlooked since their launch.
Bitcoin is not “gold” and not “Nasdaq,” D’agostino says
Co-host Andrew Sorkin started the dialogue by reminding everyone that, in the fall last year, Bitcoin dipped below $74,000, then it soared to an all-time high of $109,100 on Jan. 20. Now, after spending several times below $90,000, BTC has finally come back above $100,000. He stated that over the last year, the largest digital currency has been up by more than 70%.
He addressed John D’agostino with a question as to the right way of thinking about Bitcoin – whether it is “like Nasdaq” (a tech stock) or if it should be likened to gold (a store of value). For him, it was a fundamental question. Coinbase’s top executive said that it he believes, in reality, Bitcoin is neither.
Bitcoin has stayed above $100,000 and briefly reached $105,000 this morning. Coinbase’s @johnjdagostino joins to discuss what’s driving the surge. https://t.co/Nn2QiJqwWD
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) May 12, 2025
The last time he visited this show, he said, was April 23, prior to which Bitcoin ETF inflows were quite poor since Trump had announced the tariffs. But even during that period, he said, Bitcoin outperformed gold. However, on the same day, as he walked off the stage in CNBC, Bitcoin ETF flows “exploded.” Since that day (roughly two weeks ago), roughly $5.5 billion headed into ETFs, which dwarfed gold ETFs.
During the last meeting, there were three reasons about why Bitcoin outperformed gold that D’agostino discussed: the closeness to tech stock, Bitcoin being an inflation hedge and “the catch-up-to-gold-type trade.” Today, looking at those massive Bitcoin ETF flows, he named the fourth crucial quality of Bitcoin compared to gold – scarcity. Bitcoin miners cannot produce more BTC as fast as the overwhelming demand for it is rising.
Big overlooked nuance about Bitcoin ETFs
In the course of the conversation, D’agostino made a big reminder about one thing that has been overlooked since the ETFs launched. Financial brokers are not allowed to recommend customers to invest in these ETFs.
But there will be a time, he said, when this is going to change, expecting Bitcoin ETF inflows to explode on an even larger scale than now.
