06.05.201819:20:00UTC+00Wall Street’s First Analyst to Cover Bitcoin Strikes Cautious Tone

Wall Street's first analyst to cover bitcoin, DataTrek Research, has recommended investors to avoid the cryptocurrency.

Nick Colas, the co-founder of the firm, cited the dismal fundamentals surrounding what he dubbed the “FANG stock of the cryptocurrency world”. FANG refers to Facebook, Netflix, Alphabet's Google, the highest rising and most widely held technology stocks.

In a recent interview, he said that the bitcoin has fallen quite a long way and there are a lot of people inquiring is now the right time to buy, an answer he answered with a short 'no'.

Bitcoin has climbed to $9700 from a low around $6400 in the last month, derived from Friday's stock market close. Last December, the cryptocurrency reached a record price near $20, 000.

Colas said the rise was an absolute bubble revolving around the futures launch in December and an escalated hype for the asset.

He argued that a fewer people are interested in buying bitcoin for the first time, based in the Google search data and Blockchain wallet growth trending lower. He said Google searches are significantly lower from the highs in December and January, around 85 to 90 percent. AS for wallet growth, it clocked in at just 2.2 percent in April, compared to the 5 to 7 percent per month observed all of last year.

Colas said that the main objective is mainstream adoption, a process that he said could last three to five years.