Increasing demand and diminishing supply means Bitcoin has the potential to hit the $100,000 price level this year as it builds towards becoming a global digital reserve asset, states the report.

The fact that the value of Bitcoin has increased 10 times while under the microscope of US regulators suggests acceptance of digital currencies, BI believes.

Bitcoin saw its fourth straight daily gain yesterday, climbing briefly past the $55,000 mark late in the day

“Funds are flowing to the benchmark crypto from gold, bonds and stocks as evidenced by Tesla - the world’s largest automaker by market cap, allocating some of its wealth towards Bitcoin," says BI Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone. “The process of Bitcoin replacing gold in portfolios is accelerating and we see risks tilted toward more of the same,” said.

The BI outlook chimes with a recent research primer by JPMorgan, which suggested that bitcoin could rally as high as $146,000 in the long term as it competes with gold as an 'alternative' currency.

The Wall Street giant yesterday announced plans to issue debt linked to a basket of companies that they believe “to be, directly or indirectly, related to cryptocurrencies or other digital assets, including as a result of Bitcoin holdings, cryptocurrency technology products, cryptocurrency mining products, digital payments or Bitcoin trading”.

However, Bank for International Settlements general manager Augustus Carstens recently poured cold water on the investment frenzy surrounding bitcoin. "Investors must be cognisant that Bitcoin may well breakdown altogether" he warned, as it approaches its maximum supply of 21 million coins.

The BI report, Outlook March Cryptos - Bitcoin making Gold redundant? stresses that the past three decades have not been good for commodity investors and increasing electrification, decarbonisation, and digitalisation points to a growing role for Bitcoin.

BI says the rising tide of Bitcoin adoption is simply prudent for the gold allocators increasing the risk of the metal heading towards redundancy in a world going quickly digital.

The fixed Bitcoin mining schedule sets it apart from most assets and markets with uncertain supply and demand meaning it can be adopted as a global store of value - and in the process see its market capitalisation exceed that of Amazon, McGlone states.