Global investment bank Morgan Stanley has given Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) bulls somETHing to cheers about. The institution has stated that it classes Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as an institutional investment class. (And the day after Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s birthday… how thoughtful)

What this means is that it recognizes Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as a type of asset similar to shares, property, bonds, cash, or commodities. It also means good news for those hoping for a Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ETF.

Research Concludes Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) an Asset

The bank’s research division reviewed the last six months of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) usage.

What the researchers discovered was that permanent ledger technologies, hacks, hard forks, Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) competitors, and market volatility have led to a conclusion that the most sensible way to classify BTC is as an institutional investment class.

Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Asset Class

The researchers concluded that Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) is not just a digital payment system or financial network, but an asset class in its own right.

According to Coindesk:

“Perhaps most notably, the report emphasized its ‘rapidly morphing thesis,’ which began by defining Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) as ‘digital cash’ and noting that investors had full confidence in it, to a solution for issues in the financial system, to a new payment system to ultimately a new institutional investment class.”

The report detailed further:

“Various issues and discoveries around the Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) ecosystem have caused the thesis to evolve, including the permanent ledger recording all transactions, a number of hacks, hard forks, new technologies which are cheaper than Bitcoin (available on Coinbase), market volatility and other concerns.”