Despite its long-standing reputation as “digital gold,” bitcoin has moved sharply away from traditional safe havens like gold and silver, but that might not be a bad thing for the future of the digital asset, according to analysts at JPMorgan.
Gold is up more than 60% in 2025 on sustained central bank buying and safety-seeking demand, while bitcoin has struggled through 2026, seeing repeated monthly declines and major risk assets underperforming. The JPMorgan report suggests that this widening gap reflects the fading appeal of bitcoin as a hedge against market turmoil.
Digital assets “came under increased pressure over the past week as risk assets and, in particular, technology came under pressure and gold and silver, the other perceived hedges against a catastrophic scenario, experienced a sharp correction,” wrote analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.
This sell-off has also spread to bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), indicating widespread negative sentiment among institutional and retail investors, according to analysts at JPMorgan. The bearish sentiment also affected the supply of stablecoins, which contracted, according to the note.
‘Catastrophic scenario’
However, JPMorgan still sees a long-term case for bitcoin.
The report says gold has outperformed bitcoin since last October, but with much higher volatility, making bitcoin “even more attractive compared to gold.”
In theory, if bitcoin were to match the recent volatility seen in gold, the price of the digital asset would have to rise to around $266,000 to match the investments being made in gold, which analysts agree is unlikely. What this low volatility does for bitcoin is that it highlights bitcoin’s future potential as a safe haven.
“This volatility-adjusted $266,000 comparison to gold is, in our view, an unrealistic target for this year, but shows the long-term upside potential once negative sentiment reverses and once Bitcoin is once again perceived as equally attractive to gold as a possible hedge against a catastrophic scenario,” the analysts wrote.
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