While cryptocurrencies dominated financial headlines throughout 2024, gold has quietly staged a remarkable comeback. The precious metal hit an eye-popping all-time high of $2,195.15 per ounce on March 8, 2025, shattering records and turning heads across Wall Street. Up 15.7% year-to-date, gold is finally breaking out of its three-year consolidation pattern. About time, honestly.
Gold’s meteoric rise to $2,195 proves the oldest store of value still packs a punch against flashy digital alternatives.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, is having a rough go of it. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is trading at $83,576, down 10.2% this year. Yes, you read that right—it’s underperforming gold by over 25% in 2025. Not exactly the “digital gold” narrative crypto evangelists have been pushing. Bitcoin seems stuck in an $80,000-$85,000 range since February, apparently tired after 2024’s impressive 121% run. Tom Lee remains optimistic despite the downturn, suggesting Bitcoin could still reach 2.45 billion IDR by year-end.
The gold-to-Bitcoin ratio tells the story. At 0.0263 BTC per ounce of gold—the lowest since November 2022—it’s clear which asset is winning the race right now. This ratio has plummeted from 0.0305 at the start of 2025, nowhere near its all-time high of 0.1645 back in crypto’s glory days of December 2017.
Several factors are driving gold’s resurgence. Persistent inflation fears, geopolitical tensions in both the Middle East and Eastern Europe, and central banks buying gold like it’s going out of style. The weakening dollar isn’t helping Bitcoin’s case either. Bitcoin’s inherent value as a hedge against inflation due to its fixed supply of 21 million coins hasn’t translated to price performance during this recent gold rally.
Institutional investors are voting with their dollars. Gold ETFs have seen inflows of $5.2 billion in Q1 2025, while Bitcoin ETFs have bled $1.8 billion during the same period. Ouch.
The future remains uncertain. Some analysts believe Bitcoin will surge once the Fed pivots to rate cuts, while others expect gold’s dominance to continue. Bitcoin’s April 2024 halving hasn’t delivered the price explosion many expected—at least not yet. One commodity strategist has even issued a stark warning that Bitcoin could experience a dramatic correction all the way down to $10,000.
For now, the oldest store of value is schooling its digital counterpart. Sometimes the classics just work better.
