Bitcoin vs. gold: how they compare as a store of value

How they compare

	Gold	Bitcoin
History	Money and store of value for thousands of years	Launched in 2009
Supply	About 222,600 tons above ground; mines add under 2% a year	Capped at 21 million coins; 20 million mined by March 2026
Total value	About $29 trillion (mid-2026)	About $1.7 trillion (late September 2026)
Held by central banks	About 39,000 tons	Very little; the U.S. holds forfeited bitcoin in a reserve
Other uses	Jewelry, electronics, dentistry	Payments and transfers on its network
Price swings	Large	Much larger
What can go wrong with custody	Theft, fakes, storage costs	Lost keys, hacks, exchange failures
Top federal rate on long-term gains	28% for physical gold and funds that hold bullion (collectibles), plus 3.8% for some high earners	20% (standard capital gains rates), plus 3.8% for some high earners

Scarcity, two ways

Gold is scarce because it’s hard to find and expensive to mine. Almost all the gold ever mined still exists, and new mining adds less than 2% a year. Bitcoin’s scarcity is written into its software: no more than 21 million will ever exist, and the rate of new coins halves roughly every four years. The 20 millionth bitcoin was mined on March 10, 2026, leaving fewer than a million to come over the next century or so.

Scarcity alone doesn’t guarantee value, though. Both depend on people continuing to want them.

Price swings

Both assets are volatile, bitcoin far more so. As of late September 2026:

• Gold was around $4,300 an ounce, about 23% below its record near $5,600 set in January 2026.
• Bitcoin was around $84,400, about 33% below its record of $126,198 set on October 6, 2025.

The two don’t always move together. In 2025, gold rose about 66%, while bitcoin went from about $93,500 at the start of the year to about $88,400 at the end.

Hedge or risk asset?

Gold has a long record of holding up when stocks fall, although not in every crisis. Bitcoin was once expected to behave the same way, but it has often traded like a risky investment instead. An International Monetary Fund study found that the correlation between daily moves in bitcoin and the S&P 500 rose from 0.01 in 2017 to 2019 to 0.36 in 2020 and 2021, concluding that bitcoin had been “acting as a risky asset” with limited diversification benefits.

Who holds them

Central banks hold about 39,000 tons of gold as reserves and have been buying heavily since 2022. Bitcoin has much less official backing. In March 2025 the U.S. government set up a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, stocked with bitcoin the government had taken through final forfeiture in criminal and civil cases. The order lets the Treasury and Commerce departments look for ways to acquire more, as long as they’re budget neutral and cost taxpayers nothing extra.

Owning them safely

Gold can be held as coins and bars, in a vault or through a fund. The risks are theft, fakes and overpaying. See ways to invest in gold.

Bitcoin is held with digital keys, either by an exchange or in your own wallet. Lose the keys and the coins are gone. Leave them with an exchange and you depend on that company, and several exchanges have failed or been hacked. Since 2024 you can also own bitcoin through spot bitcoin ETFs in a regular brokerage account. See how to buy bitcoin safely.

Taxes

Both are taxed when you sell at a gain, but at different rates. Physical gold, and gold ETFs set up as trusts that hold bullion, are taxed as collectibles, with long-term gains taxed at up to 28%. Bitcoin is treated as property, and long-term gains are taxed at the ordinary capital gains rates of up to 20%. Higher earners may owe the 3.8% net investment income tax on either. Our guide to how bitcoin is taxed covers the details.

Should you own either?

That depends on your goals and your stomach for swings. Gold has the longer record as a diversifier. Bitcoin has had enormous gains and deep crashes, and its future is less certain. If you own either, keep it to a share of your savings you could see fall by half without being forced to sell. Is gold a safe investment? and Bitcoin IRAs cover related questions.

Frequently asked questions