Bitcoin's surprising fast exit from its «crypto winter» has once again put the notoriously volatile digital currency atop the leader-board in the first quarter for being the best-performing asset class by a wide margin. With a roughly 70% gain, Bitcoin is closing out its best quarter since the three months ended March 2021, when it surged some 103%, Bloomberg data show. That vastly outstrips the S&P 500's 5.5% year-to-date advance, the Nasdaq 100's 19% uptick and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF's 5.3% jump. Long-time participants note that volatility is expected — and is even part of the attraction to investors in the relatively embryonic asset class. Bitcoin burst onto the mainstream consciousness with a more-than 1,000% annual gain in 2017, only to post a 74% drop the following year in what became known as a crypto winter. Then after three consecutive annual increases, it tumbled 64% last year amid a series of industry scandals and bankruptcies. «For many crypto market observers, it's not at all a surprise,» said Noelle Acheson, author of the «Crypto Is Macro Now» newsletter, of this year's rally. «All the signs were pointing to a strong price floor starting last November, and it was just a matter of time before either the liquidity narrative changed (which it did in early January) or longer-term investors saw a store-of-value opportunity (which seems to have also happened).»
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SAP has launched a new enterprise on the Metaverse with the aim of accelerating cloud adoption among Indian firms. The interactive and immersive ‘cloud on wheels’ platform will enable customers to experience the full range of SAP’s offerings and reimagine processes for improved business outcomes.
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