Gold continues to soar to new highs, while BTC has significantly declined over the past month—meanwhile, geopolitical risks and President Trump's aggressive new trade policies have impacted financial markets.
Despite often being described as 'digital gold,' BTC does not trade like the real thing. Instead, its trading has been in line with the U.S. stock market (especially tech stocks) as traders have been spooked by macroeconomic uncertainty.
However, following news of a ceasefire breaking in Israel with Hamas, gold, traditionally seen as a safe-haven asset, set a new record of over $3,047 per ounce on Tuesday.
In contrast, data from CoinGecko shows that BTC has dropped nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. The situation has been even bleaker over the past month: the asset has plummeted by over 15%.
The current trading price of BTC is around $82,967 per coin, nearly 25% lower than the historic high of $108,786 set on the day President Trump took office.
The new commander-in-chief is committed to helping the digital asset industry and reducing regulation during the campaign.
Although the president has so far kept his promises—signing an executive order to establish a strategic BTC reserve and other initiatives supporting cryptocurrencies—the unpredictable announcements of tariffs on major trading partners have frightened traders and led to a sell-off of 'risk-on' assets, including BTC and top tech stocks listed on Nasdaq.
BTC's price has historically been aligned with gold. During the banking crisis of 2023, the largest cryptocurrency's correlation with tech stocks decreased, and as speculators flocked to value-storing investments, it began to move alongside precious metals.
Although that may not be the case today, the asset still needs time to mature into something with more predictable market trends. 'It’s still too young to settle down,' he said. 'Because it contains all this potential for growth, I think of it like a tech stock.'
Will the orange coin ultimately realize its potential as 'digital gold' as described by its supporters?
At least for now, they still behave like entirely different assets.
