Metals pushed to fresh record highs on Friday, pulling investor capital away from bitcoin as markets favored hard assets amid debasement concerns and escalating geopolitical risk.
The advance in metals contrasted with renewed weakness across the crypto market. In a familiar pattern as U.S. trading reopened after the Christmas holiday, bitcoin quickly erased modest overnight gains. After briefly trading above $89,000 during the holiday lull, the cryptocurrency reversed lower at the open, falling back below $87,000.
As digital assets softened, metals extended gains that have increasingly challenged bitcoin’s role in the global debasement trade. The rally was also supported by heightened geopolitical tensions, following U.S. strikes on Islamic State targets in Nigeria on Christmas Day and renewed pressure on Venezuela after Washington blocked sanctioned oil tankers.
Platinum and palladium led the move, each rising more than 10%, while silver and copper gained around 5%. Gold advanced 1.5% to $4,573 an ounce.
U.S. equity markets were largely unchanged in early trade, with the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hovering near flat.
Bitcoin was down 1.6% over the past 24 hours, with ether posting similar declines. Losses were broader across the sector, led by dogecoin, which slid more than 4%, and XRP, down 3%.
Crypto-related equities also traded lower. Coinbase (COIN) outperformed peers with a roughly 2% decline after being named one of Clear Street analyst Owen Lau’s top fintech ideas for 2026. Gemini (GEMI) fell 6%, Bullish (BLSH) declined 3.8% and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) slipped 3.5%.
Bitcoin miners were among the hardest hit in early post-holiday trading, including companies that have pivoted toward AI infrastructure. IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Terawulf (WULF) and Marathon Digital (MARA) fell more than 5%, while Hut 8 (HUT), which had recently rallied on optimism around its AI plans, led losses with a 7.5% drop.
