Bitcoin Shifts Toward Digital Gold Narrative Amid Rising Economic Uncertainty
Bitcoin (BTC) has regained positive momentum for the year, reaching close to $95,000 and reversing an 18% decline. This marks its first return to positive territory in nearly two months.
Currently up by less than 1.5% since December 31, Bitcoin’s performance places it between gold—up 24% year-to-date—and the Nasdaq 100, which has dropped over 7%. This shift is reinforcing the ongoing debate of Bitcoin’s role in the market, with the digital gold narrative now slightly outweighing the idea of Bitcoin as a leveraged tech stock.
Bitcoin’s correlation with gold continues to strengthen, according to a 30-day moving average analysis. The leading cryptocurrency now shows a robust correlation coefficient of 0.70 with gold, while its correlation with the Nasdaq 100 stands at a weaker 0.53. These values indicate that Bitcoin is aligning more closely with gold than with tech equities. Correlation values range from 1 (strong positive correlation) to -1 (strong negative correlation).
Bitcoin’s 10% rise last week marked its best performance since the week ending November 17, following President Donald Trump’s election win.
Meanwhile, economic uncertainty continues to escalate, fueled by rising tariffs under Trump’s administration. U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods increased to 145% earlier this month, causing a notable drop in cargo shipment demand, as reported by Bloomberg. Retailers, including Walmart, have warned that rising prices and empty shelves could be a concern again, echoing the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
