Analysts and amateur economists love to sound alarms over a looming recession. The Great Recession of the 2000s was followed a decade later by the COVID-19 recession, one of the shortest in history. The reoccurrence of recessions has renewed the interest investors have in making sure they lose as little as possible if a recession hits.
As an investor, you’d traditionally hold a portion of your portfolio in precious metals like gold. This provides a hedge against the losses stocks can take during a downward economic trend. This has proven effective and still is—but a new alternative is challenging this old-school capital preservation method. Bitcoin is proving to be an interesting asset for investors because it has been around long enough to gain recognition and support—it is being used in ways that appear to demonstrate a few trends.
Key Takeways
Gold has been an asset that holds value over long periods and is used to hedge against market downturns.
Bitcoin is young and unproven as an investment, but cryptocurrency speculators have used it successfully to store value and hedge against corrections and recessions.
Which is a better investment depends on your risk tolerance, investing goals, strategy, and the amount of capital you can handle losing.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin launched in 2009—the decentralized technology ushered in a new era in finance and investing. Initially, these digital currencies were only attractive to a few niche enthusiasts. In 2010, early speculators discovered the Bitcoins they had previously purchased for fractions of a cent had grown to $0.09 per Bitcoin. Large-scale Bitcoin mining farms and pools became popular, and cryptocurrency exchanges emerged.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began to shut down economies worldwide in 2020, speculators and investors noticed that Bitcoin’s value wasn’t falling alongside stock values. They started pouring capital into it, institutional investors continued looking for ways to create investment instruments and funds from it, and its price soared—by April 2021, Bitcoin’s price hit about $61,000 and peaked in November at $69,000 on Coinbase. It began a long decline, and after a long period of much lower prices, dubbed a “crypto winter,” its price skyrocketed to more than $75,000 on March 14, 2024, after Bitcoin Spot ETFs were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.1
Investors and speculators began to use Bitcoin in a buy-and-hold strategy as its price fluctuated wildly over 2021, hoping it would maintain value as the pandemic continued.
Gold
Gold historically performs well during market corrections because it maintains its value; its price holds somewhat steady, then tends to rise as investors move from stocks to gold if a recession threatens. This makes it useful as a hedge—an investment that moves opposite another—against market corrections or recessions.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, not all investors turned to Bitcoin; many followed traditional strategies and transitioned to gold. As a result, gold’s price skyrocketed from just below $1,300 in early 2019 to nearly $2,100 in mid-2020.23 Through 2021, its price dropped as economies slowly recovered, but it still averaged higher than pre-pandemic recession levels.4
Key Differences
Gold has dominated the economies and markets for thousands of years as a means of exchange and holding wealth. Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and only achieved widespread recognition several years later. Other key differences can provide clues into which one you might want to include in your portfolio.
Bitcoin Gold
Regulations Depends on the country Some restrictions
Utility The number of uses is growing Used across many industries and products
Liquidity Depends on the market and type of asset Depends on market and type of asset
Volatility Started 2021 at $32,782 rose, to a high of $69,000, closed the year at $46,306, dropped under $20,000 in late 2023, then hit $75,830 in March 2024. Started 2021 at $1,943 an ounce, dropped to a yearly low of $1,683, ended year at $1,805.
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