In brief
- Bitcoin has dropped 5% since last Thursday, while gold has surged nearly 5% to record highs.
- The growing divergence could be linked to institutional investors’ preference for gold as a safe-haven asset amid macroeconomic uncertainty, Decrypt was told.
- If history repeats, the top crypto is likely to outperform the precious metal as the risk tolerance increases and capital rotates into Bitcoin.
Gold’s uptrend amid Bitcoin’s downturn has driven a wedge between the two safe-haven assets, with experts noting that this increasing divergence is a result of macroeconomic uncertainty, which has pushed investors to reassess their risk appetites.
Though Bitcoin is often referred to as a safe-haven asset or digital gold, it has failed to match gold’s bullish momentum. Since last Thursday, the top crypto has dropped roughly 5% while the precious metal has notched a 5% gain and set a new record high of $3,791.
“Part of gold’s newly found strength in recent weeks lies in strong sovereign and central bank demand,” Farzam Ehsani, CEO and co-founder of crypto exchange VALR, told Decrypt. The aggressive accumulation comes from countries like China and Russia using gold as a “geopolitical buffer and a hedge against the U.S. dollar dominance.”
Bitcoin, on the other hand, is in the “early stages of its institutional adoption,” which is why investors are “skeptical” whether the bellwether crypto can fulfill its digital gold narrative, Ehsani added.
The 90-day change in ETF inflows between gold and Bitcoin shows that while the precious metal has attracted $18.5 billion as of September, Bitcoin’s inflows stand at just under $10 billion, according to BOLD Report data.
Bitcoin’s performance has historically improved once the Federal Reserve begins cutting interest rates. Under these conditions, the top crypto plays catch up, outperforming the traditional safe-haven asset, Decrypt previously reported.
“Gold moves first, Bitcoin follows 1–2 months later,” Ryan McMillin, chief investment officer at crypto fund manager Merkle Tree Capital, recently told Decrypt.
As private risk-tolerant capital flows in, Bitcoin typically outperforms gold, as the digital asset accounts for roughly one-tenth of the precious metal’s market capitalization, McMillin noted.
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