Matrixport: Gold Performs Exceptionally During Safe-Haven Cycles, Bitcoin Unlikely to Become an Official Reserve Asset

Matrixport analysis points out that over the past year, gold prices have achieved nearly 80% excess returns relative to bitcoin, significantly outperforming bitcoin. In the current risk-off cycle, traditional hedging assets such as gold have benefited from falling interest rates, declining inflation, and rising market expectations that the Federal Reserve will turn dovish in 2026. Although BlackRock has reinforced the narrative of bitcoin as "digital gold," central banks around the world still primarily hold gold as reserve assets. Due to its high volatility and political sensitivity, bitcoin is difficult to include on a large scale in official reserves. U.S. policy direction remains a key long-term variable; a Trump administration may adjust gold reserves and marginally allocate bitcoin.