Gold soared on Wednesday as investors rushed to the precious metal following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks. The yellow metal jumped 6% to exceed $5,400 per ounce, extending its strong bull market.
Silver and platinum saw even larger gains, but gold—with an estimated market capitalization near $40 trillion—remained the standout asset.
The rally accelerated after Powell’s press conference, following the Fed’s decision to keep the benchmark federal funds rate at 3.50%–3.75%. When asked about gold and silver’s rapid ascent, Powell urged caution against reading too much into the move. “Don’t take too much message into [that] macroeconomically,” he said, adding that the Fed’s credibility remains solid.
Bitcoin stalls
Bitcoin (BTC $82,740.49) remained muted, trading in a tight range near $89,000 and showing little change over 24 hours. Other major cryptocurrencies followed similar subdued patterns.
Digital gold challenged
The divergence between gold and bitcoin has raised questions about BTC’s role as “digital gold.” Despite macro tailwinds—such as a weaker U.S. dollar and rising geopolitical risks—bitcoin has underperformed, while gold has gained more than 90% in the past year.
“We’re in a market regime where crypto is underperforming the assets it was designed to rival,” said James Harris, CEO of crypto yield platform Tesseract Group. “Gold is reclaiming market share from bitcoin amid repricing of geopolitical and fiscal risks.”
