Gold’s massive rally in 2025 is catching investors’ attention, with market veteran Ed Yardeni declaring it the “new bitcoin”.
Yardeni argued that gold has outperformed bitcoin as a safe haven amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.
“Bitcoin has been described as ‘digital gold,’ but we would describe gold as ‘physical bitcoin,’” Yardeni wrote, highlighting gold’s historical reliability compared to bitcoin’s shorter track record and risky behavior, Yardeni wrote in a Wednesday note from Yardeni Research reported by CNBC.
The numbers confirm his thesis. Year to date, gold is up about 60%, while bitcoin’s gains have been closer to 20%. In recent weeks, gold has rallied nearly 4%, while bitcoin has fallen 9% and the Nasdaq has fallen nearly 1%.
The price of gold currently exceeds $4,200 per ounce. A year ago it was about $2,600 an ounce.
Gold’s surge today can be partly attributed to President Trump threatening China with trade “punishments,” including a potential ban on Chinese cooking oil, amid long-standing tensions involving soybeans and other commodities.
The escalation increases U.S. economic uncertainty, increasing demand for safe-haven gold.
Yardeni: Bitcoin has liquidity problems
Yardeni attributed Bitcoin’s decline to liquidity strains, with around $19 billion in recent liquidations in leveraged positions, forcing some automatic deleveraging and widening market spreads.
In contrast, gold rose after President Donald Trump hinted at 100% tariffs against China, reflecting its role as a geopolitical hedge.
Yardeni predicts gold will surpass $5,000 in 2026, potentially reaching $10,000 by the end of the decade.
“Investors seeking protection from rising geopolitical risks have headed for the hills to mine gold and silver,” he said.
Bitcoin has stabilized around $111,000 this week, after hitting a record high above $126,000 and one of the market’s most violent corrections in years. The rally to all-time highs was driven by renewed institutional demand, falling real yields and growing adoption of “debasement trading” as investors sought protection against monetary expansion.
The recovery came after a brutal weekend that wiped out more than $19 billion in leveraged positions, forcing more than 1.6 million traders to liquidate with cascading margin calls.
Despite the turmoil, long-term holders remained stable and metrics such as Coin Days Destroyed suggested that the majority of sales came from new entrants capitulating at a loss. Bitcoin fundamentals, including hash rate, transaction throughput, and active addresses, continued to show an upward trend.