Veteran Analyst Says Bitcoin Spanked Gold Over The Long Run

Guy Fawkes 2026.02.01 3 min read

Veteran ETF analyst Eric Balchunas says Bitcoin already beat gold if you stop staring at short-term charts. Bitcoin USD still trades below its late-2025 highs, while gold keeps printing new records. That contrast confuses new investors who hear “digital gold” but see very different price action.

This debate matters because many beginners buy Bitcoin for the same reason people buy gold. Safety. Inflation protection. A place to park value when currencies wobble.

The dread I see from bitcoiners (and the football spiking from the haters) is very short-sighted to me given that since 2022 (right before the BlackRock ETF filing) Bitcoin is up 429%, gold 177%, Silver 350%, QQQ 140%. In other words bitcoin spanked everything so bad in ’23 and… pic.twitter.com/SPNB9RTdzv

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 27, 2026

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Why Does Bitcoin Keep Getting Compared To Gold?

Gold is the old-school store of value. It has limited supply, global trust, and thousands of years of history. Bitcoin copies that idea in digital form, with a hard cap of 21 million coins enforced by code.

That is why people call Bitcoin “digital gold.” The bet is simple. If money printing keeps going, scarce assets should hold value better than cash.

Bitcoin vs Gold

Same chart. Same dollars. Very different stories.

Gold did what it was supposed to do.
It preserved purchasing power. Slowly. Reliably.

Bitcoin did what nobody expected. It turned from an experiment into one of the best-performing assets in history.

Both are… pic.twitter.com/6KbkmlA7Dt

— Vivek Sen (@Vivek4real_) January 17, 2026

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Zooming Out Changes The Story

Balchunas points out that looking only at recent months gives a distorted picture. Since 2022, Bitcoin is up about 429%. Gold rose roughly 177% over the same stretch.

Think of it like judging a marathon by the last mile. Gold sprinted during recent panic. Bitcoin stumbled after the October 2025 crash. Over the full race, Bitcoin still ran much farther.

(Source: BTCUSD / TradingView)

Why Gold “Won” The Fear Trade

After the crypto flash crash in October 2025, investors wanted certainty. Gold delivered that. It added nearly $1.75 trillion in market value in a single day in January, roughly the entire size of Bitcoin’s market cap.

This is where age matters. Gold has survived wars, currency resets, and financial crises. Bitcoin is 16 years old. When fear spikes, many investors still trust the ancient option.

The ETF Effect Most Beginners Miss

Bitcoin ETFs changed the game in 2024. Products like BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC pulled in billions, giving institutions a clean way to buy exposure without handling coins.

Gold ETFs like GLD hold about $60 billion. Bitcoin ETFs reached comparable scale far faster. That flow helps explain why many see Bitcoin versus commodities as a new investing category.