The Trump and tariff effect hits crypto assets. Bitcoin cheapest in months, investors choose physical gold
See also: No longer Bitcoin. Investors have found a new safe haven
The Bitcoin price has had a series of declining sessions. Sunday is the fourth day of discounts in a row. On Saturday, the depreciation reached up to 7 percent, and the last 10 days have brought a loss of almost 19 percent. On Sunday, the price temporarily dropped to $74,437, down about 11 percent since the beginning of this year.
Bitcoin is not gold
The move came despite a sharp rally in gold bar prices and other precious metals as investors seek safety amid rising geopolitical tensions and tariff threats. Gold has reached historic highs in recent days, rising 23%. from the beginning of the year, which meant the exchange rate at one point reached above $5,600. per ounce (although prices dropped sharply to about $4,800 on Friday).
Cryptocurrency advocates have long touted bitcoin as “digital gold,” a virtual version of the precious metal, and say the cryptocurrency is a safe-haven asset in times of market stress.. However, Ilan Solot, senior global market strategist at Marex Solutions, told the FT that Bitcoin is an “asset in search of a pricing model”, adding that there is “no clear consensus” on what should drive its price.
Pramol Dhawan, managing director of Pimco, stated that the narrative about Bitcoin's digital gold has “disappeared”, and the price chart shows that “this is not a monetary revolution.” Bitcoin reached a record high of almost 125,000. dollars late last year as investors applauded U.S. President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency-friendly moves, including appointing favorable regulators, pausing enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies and passing groundbreaking stablecoin legislation.
Since then, its price has dropped dramatically. Other tokens, including Ethereum and Solana, have also plummeted in value since their peaks last year. Trump's tariff threats, his demands to seize Greenland and broader geopolitical tensions with Iran and Venezuela have led investors to buy gold and silver frantically. However, investors treat cryptocurrencies as higher risk assets. “Bitcoin is associated with the government,” said a cryptocurrency venture capitalist, adding that he is “paying a price for being associated with the Republican political party.”
This view about Bitcoin has not come true
“Bitcoin's correlation with gold is fundamentally volatile, oscillating between a strong positive and negative relationship depending on the dominant macroeconomic narrative,” wrote analysts at research firm Kaiko. “The tariff volatility has exposed Bitcoin's ongoing identity crisis,” he added.
Solot said early adopters of Bitcoin believed in its digital gold story, but with the influx of institutional investors, “it's not such a strictly philosophical view anymore.” “It was more of an old-school view that was tested and didn't work,” he added.
See also: Gold beats the S&P 500. A historic signal warns of the end of the bull market
He added that retail investors are now more excited about Polymarket and Kalshi prediction markets. These markets, which allow betting on events such as the election of a new Federal Reserve chairman or the winner of the Australian Open, have recently become increasingly popular. Platforms like Hyperliquid have grown in popularity among cryptocurrency experts.
For larger institutional investors, the expert said, the rise of cryptocurrency perpetuals and digital asset companies is “drawing capital and attention” away from pure Bitcoin.
