🪙 Gold ETF: A game-changing event.

In 2004, the world's first gold ETF officially launched, in a year when gold had just emerged from a 20-year bear market, and prices began to recover.

But before the ETF was launched, the threshold for ordinary people to participate in gold investment was extremely high:

Or buy mining stocks (greatly affected by company operations)

Or physical gold (troublesome and unsafe)

Either futures (high threshold, high risk)

And ETFs are like a one-click access to gold investment, convenient and hassle-free. From then on, gold entered the era of liquidity.

After the ETF, gold entered a bull market.

Data speaks:

In the 8 years before GLD launched, gold rose by 16.84%.

In the 8 years after GLD launched, gold skyrocketed by 286.90%.

What triggered the market was not just the price trend but the reconstruction of investment logic. ETFs pushed the originally niche and closed gold market to a broader audience.

A certain ETF developer said a key phrase at that time:

"What we're doing is democratizing gold investment."

Now let's look back at Bitcoin.

Does it feel a bit familiar?

Bitcoin is often referred to as "digital gold."

The ETF is also one of the most significant positives this year.

Essentially, it's also about lowering the threshold and expanding the participant base.

Especially for users who are reluctant to store Bitcoin themselves, ETFs are the most suitable choice—no need to worry about private keys, cold wallets, theft, etc., just buy directly in a traditional brokerage account, much easier.

But don't forget: Bitcoin ≠ gold.

Although structurally similar, there are also key differences:

Before the launch of the ETF:

Gold is a "rare asset" for the public, hard to obtain.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, has already been made "available for all"; you can trade just by registering a wallet on your phone.

Risk perception differences:

The largest holders of gold ETFs back then were retail investors, while institutions were more conservative.

The current buying pressure for Bitcoin ETFs is actually being aggressively scooped up by "institutions from the beautiful country."

Real data comparison: Bitcoin has already taken off at full speed

GLD took 2 years to surpass a $10 billion management scale;

And IBIT (BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF) took only 7 weeks.

Moreover, interestingly, it's not just new funds coming in—funds are also flowing out of gold ETFs and shifting towards Bitcoin ETFs.

What about the future? How much more can it rise?

Although no one can predict the future, the trend is clear:

Bloomberg ETF analyst estimates:

Within 2 years, the asset scale of Bitcoin ETFs may surpass that of gold ETFs.

Bitwise executive estimates:

Before the next halving, Bitcoin ETF assets could surge to $200 billion.

In other words, this is not just replicating the path of gold ETFs but an upgraded version, and it may even create a new paradigm.

My view: more imaginative than a "golden replica."

Gold is static; its story has long been set.

Bitcoin is dynamic; it is still writing its own history.

The significance of ETFs is not only as a catalyst for price surges but also a symbolic step in formally accepting "digital assets" by mainstream capital and compliance channels.

Perhaps one day, looking back, we will find that this is not just "another GLD," but a watershed moment for the globalization of digital assets.

Last sentence

What ETFs bring is not magic but a "consensus channel."

When holding becomes easy, the story gains liquidity, and prices get fuel.

The path that Bitcoin is taking may not replicate gold, but it will definitely go further.