Let’s talk about a real heavyweight match-up, shall we? A battle for the ages between old and new. Champion and challenger. Past and future. Not to mention stakes so high that the entire financial world can’t help but wager on it.
Relax! We’re not promoting a rematch between YouTuber-turned-professional-pugilist Jake Paul and retired boxing legend Iron Mike Tyson. Paul won that bout via unanimous decision, but the real victor was Netflix, with over 65 million suckers tuning in to that farce of a fight.
No, the main event on this card is bigger. It’s gold versus bitcoin in 2025 and beyond. And judging by the tale of the tape, it’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out brawl in which the winner could very well take it all.
Gold was up 26 percent in 2024, outpacing the S&P 500 by three percentage points. Gold is up over 10 percent so far in 2025 and flirting with $3,000 an ounce.
Gold, in other words, is a molten-hot commodity.
“Gold is part of our investment process and allocation, as we trade it in our portfolios,” says Ken Arnold, managing director of Everglades Parkland Advisors. “We have always viewed gold as a hedge against inflation and debasement of currencies.”
Arnold adds that the yellow metal also serves as a “time-tested” store of value in periods of geopolitical stress, and expresses this belief by owning gold royalty companies.
Along similar lines, David Weinerman, founder and managing director at The Weinerman Group, is bullish on gold for the next 12 to 18 months. He invests in the metal using gold ETFs, such as SPDR Gold Shares (Ticker: GLD), which he says provide an easy and liquid way to gain exposure to gold without the risks associated with mining stocks, such as poor management and regulatory issues.
“Recent policy uncertainties, rising tariffs, and concerns over US debt sustainability have strengthened gold’s appeal as a safe-haven asset,” Weinerman says. “Additionally, central banks have been aggressively buying gold, reducing market supply and driving prices higher.”
As to why own gold over other precious metals like silver or platinum, Weinerman maintains that gold has “historically been the go-to store of value during economic uncertainty, currency devaluation, and geopolitical risks.” And while silver, platinum, and palladium may also store value, they are more influenced by industrial demand, making them more volatile, in his opinion.
You hear that, bitcoin fans? Gold has been the go-to currency for countless centuries. Bitcoin started trading in 2009. It’s a relative baby compared to gold.
That’s a pretty strong punch coming from gold. But is it a knockout blow?
Get real, gold bugs. While bitcoin may not have been around for millennia, you’ve got to admit that it’s coming out of the gate with a bang!
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was the top-performing investment of 2024. Prices surged 125 percent in 2024, finishing the year close to $100K per bitcoin.
“I hold bitcoin both personally and for clients, and continue to add to positions,” says Zoltan Pongracz, private wealth advisor at Procyon Partners. “Institutional adoption is no longer theoretical – it’s happening. BlackRock and Fidelity are in, and pension funds, endowments, and nation-states are allocating.”
Pongracz points out that bitcoin ETFs hit $50 billion in assets in just 227 trading days, which is the fastest any ETF has reached that milestone. Despite its $2 trillion market cap, bitcoin adoption is still early in his view, with only two to three percent of the global population owning it.
“Tom Lee of FundStrat highlights that no asset has reached $2 trillion and then disappeared. Yet bitcoin is still often dismissed as a fad,” Pongracz says.
Everglades Parkland’s Arnold has owned bitcoin for clients since 2014, starting with a very small position across client portfolios that has since grown far larger. He has not trimmed the position since first acquiring it and has grown comfortable with bitcoin’s volatility. Sometimes he adds to his stash on dips.
“Any new clients must own bitcoin, and Eaglebrook’s SMA platform is a great option for direct allocation to crypto on clients’ behalf. We feel that most financial and investment advisors have not spent the time to understand the asset and protocol,” Arnold says.
Similarly, Weinerman is bullish on bitcoin due to a combination of institutional adoption, macroeconomic trends, and its fundamental scarcity. In his view, the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs last year has opened the door for large-scale institutional investment, increasing demand while supply remains fixed at 21 million coins.
In the meantime, the halving of bitcoin last year further reduced supply, which historically leads to major price surges. (So maybe bitcoin bulls do have history on their side, too!)
“As central banks struggle with inflation and monetary instability, bitcoin is increasingly seen as a digital hedge against devaluation. Metrics show strong accumulation, with more bitcoin being held long-term, reducing sell pressure,” Weinerman says.
Some pretty good counterpunches from the challenger. This one is definitely going the distance.
Wow! What a fight! Both assets truly showed their mettle.
Time to go to the judges’ scorecards! (Keeping in mind, of course, that these are the opinions of merely a few advisors. Feel free to score at home yourself.)
Procyon’s Pongracz gives the nod to bitcoin, calling it “Gold 2.0.”
“It’s scarcer, more liquid, immune to manipulation and, unlike gold, its supply is permanently capped at 21 million coins, ensuring true scarcity,” Pongracz said.
Moving on, Arnold gives the edge to bitcoin as well, saying the cryptocurrency market will continue to grow exponentially with proper regulation and security.
“In the future, assets will be tokenized, and bitcoin, being the oldest protocol, may be the beneficiary of tokenization. Bitcoin is still a great hedge against monetary debasement, which has occurred since the formation of the Federal Reserve in 1913,” Pongracz says.
Next up, Weinerman checks his scorecard, calling the bout in favor of bitcoin.
“While gold has been used for thousands of years, its supply is not truly finite, as new mining discoveries and technological advancements can increase availability. Bitcoin, however, has a mathematically enforced cap of 21 million coins, ensuring scarcity. It is also far more portable, allowing for instant, borderless transactions, unlike gold, which is costly and cumbersome to transport,” Weinerman said.
Finally, Wheeler Crowley, co-founder of CoFi Advisors, makes it a unanimous decision.
“Bitcoin wasn’t just the top-performing asset in 2024, it’s been the top performing asset for a decade. Neither of them is effective inflation hedges – they were both losing investments in 2022, although bitcoin more dramatically so. However, bitcoin has demonstrated throughout its history that it’s worthy of holding, or even adding to, through the volatility,” Crowley says.
Adds Crowley, “Comparing gold to bitcoin is like comparing Will Smith to Mike Tyson[KP1] – it isn’t a fair fight.”
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