Current high bitcoin prices, relative to its production cost or relative to gold, raise doubts about the sustainability of the $12 billion year-to-date inflow into crypto assets, according to JPMorgan analysts.

So far this year, the crypto market has seen substantial inflows driven by spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, but JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a report on Wednesday whether this pace will continue into the rest of the year remains uncertain.

Spot bitcoin ETFs have attracted $16 billion in inflows year-to-date, and adding the flow impulse implied by CME futures and fundraising by crypto venture capital funds, total inflows into crypto have reached $25 billion year-to-date, the analysts said. However, not all of this represents new money entering the …