Precious metals decisively outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) in 2025 as investors chose gold and silver to hedge against currency debasement.
Gold has risen approximately 71% year-to-date while silver surged roughly 159%.
Bitcoin has fallen about 6% over the same period.
The divergence contradicts early 2025 predictions that Bitcoin would benefit from the "debasement trade," an investment strategy involving store-of-value assets as protection against fiat currency erosion.
What Happened
Gold reached its best annual performance since 1979, trading above $4,500 per ounce.
The metal has remained above its 200-day moving average for approximately 550 consecutive trading days, marking the second-longest streak on record behind only the roughly 750-session stretch following the 2008 financial crisis.
Silver hit all-time highs above $72 per ounce, driven by industrial demand for solar panels, electric vehicles, and semiconductors combined with persistent supply deficits.
Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $126,200 on October 6 before pulling back sharply.
The cryptocurrency currently trades around $87,400, representing a decline of approximately 30% from its peak.
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Why It Matters
Central banks globally have been steadily increasing gold holdings throughout 2025, with emerging and developed markets explicitly framing the metal as a neutral reserve asset amid geopolitical fragmentation.
Lower expected real interest rates and a weaker dollar have reduced the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding precious metals.
Despite Bitcoin's underperformance, cryptocurrency analysts expect the asset to catch up with gold in 2026.
Lewis Harland, portfolio manager at Re7 Capital, told CoinDesk that gold has been leading Bitcoin by roughly 26 weeks.
The metal's renewed strength reflects markets increasingly pricing in further currency debasement and fiscal strain into 2026, a backdrop that has historically supported both assets with Bitcoin responding with greater volatility.
Polymarket traders assign a 40% probability of Bitcoin being the best-performing asset in 2026, compared with 33% for gold and 25% for equities.
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