Gold outperforms Bitcoin by more than 70% over the past year
Over the past 12 months, gold has gained 28%, while Bitcoin has lost around 44% of its value. The performance gap between the two assets has exceeded 70 percentage points, fueling debate over Bitcoin's ability to serve as "digital gold."
According to Protos, the precious metal rose from roughly $3,400 to $4,330 per ounce over the period. Bitcoin, by contrast, fell from $117,000 to $65,000.
The divergence became particularly pronounced after both assets reached all-time highs. Bitcoin hit a record of around $126,200 on October 6, 2025, before falling approximately 48%.
Gold pulls ahead
Gold reached its own peak later. On January 28, 2026, the spot price of the precious metal climbed to a record $5,589 per ounce.
Prices subsequently corrected but retained a significant portion of their gains over the past year.
Gold and Bitcoin price performance over the past year. Source: TradingView.
As a result, $1 invested in gold a year ago would now be worth about $1.28. The same investment in Bitcoin would have fallen to roughly $0.55.
Gold's advantage also extends over a longer period. Over the past three years, its return has exceeded Bitcoin's by several percentage points.
Central banks and investors support gold demand
Strong demand from central banks remains one of the factors supporting the precious metal. In 2025, they purchased 863 tonnes of gold. Although the figure was lower than the previous year's total, it remained historically high.
Capital flows into exchange-traded funds also shifted significantly. According to the World Gold Council, after modest net outflows in 2024, gold-backed ETFs attracted more than 800 tonnes of the metal in 2025.
Investor Michael Burry said in February that Bitcoin has primarily behaved as a speculative asset and has yet to prove itself as an effective hedge against currency debasement.
However, the comparison depends heavily on the period selected. Since Bitcoin's inception, its cumulative return has vastly exceeded that of gold, while the cryptocurrency has also significantly outperformed the precious metal during certain periods.
Coldcard problems add pressure on Bitcoin
Bitcoin's decline comes amid security concerns surrounding one of the popular hardware wallets.
Galaxy Research previously estimated potential losses from the Coldcard vulnerability at around 2,000 BTC, or approximately $130 million. Researchers identified the theft of at least 1,596 BTC from 7,300 addresses.
The incident may also have affected the behavior of long-term holders. Around 210,000 BTC was moved from older wallets within a week, marking the largest such decline since December 2024.
Analysts believe a significant portion of these transactions may reflect changes in custody practices rather than outright selling, as users reassess how they store their assets following the Coldcard breach.
Latest Gold News
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
