Gold versus Bitcoin – a battle for portfolio diversification

[SINGAPORE] As US President Donald Trump’s eye-watering tariffs triggered a tanking of the world’s markets in the past week, the paths of two alternative assets diverged.

One was gold, which recorded a new high of US$3,132.43 per ounce, then faltered during the extreme sell-offs, and then rose back to above US$3,100 on Thursday (Apr 10). The other, cryptocurrencies, joined the global market rout, with Bitcoin sinking 28 per cent lower than its January peak.

But prior to the recent volatility, crypto – especially Bitcoin – was seen as a potential challenger to gold’s long-held role as a store of value.