Eric Sepanek
SBC Founder
Eric Sepanek is the founder of Scottsdale Bullion & Coin, established in 2011. With extensive experience in the precious metals industry, he is dedicated to educating Americans on the wealth preservation power of gold and silver.
One of the world’s largest independent financial advisory firms has reaffirmed its preference for gold over bitcoin as both a hedge and a long-term store of value. Despite lagging far behind the cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise, the yellow metal remains the undisputed safe haven, according to Rothschild & Co.
The group maintains a slightly overweight position in gold, describing it as a strategic asset that offers resilience in periods of economic volatility. Analysts argue that Bitcoin cannot replace gold’s increasingly central role, and that the metal remains a critical portfolio diversifier despite recent volatility.
Gold’s Third Year of Double-Digit Gains
The price of gold is on track for yet another year in the record books, says Victor Balfour, investment strategist at Rothschild & Co. The yellow metal is up more than a quarter year-to-date and has surged an impressive 33% from trough to peak. It already notched a record high of $3,640/oz, and momentum suggests more milestones could follow before the year’s end.
Barring a sharp, unexpected reversal, gold is set to log its third straight year of double-digit gains. This milestone was last achieved in the ‘90s, underscoring the rally’s remarkable momentum.
Outshining All Other Assets
When tracked over the past five and a half years, gold is the economy’s strongest asset, beating out the second-highest-returning security by more than 4%. On an annualized return basis, the yellow metal ran neck and neck with global equities for a few years before taking off in mid-2024.
In USD terms, gold has yielded an average of 15.5% each year, outpacing world stock indices (11.3%), the US dollar (2.8%), and government bonds (0.6%).
This discordant growth is even more apparent when zooming out to the past quarter-century. In the last 25 years, gold has skyrocketed by nearly 900% while the S&P 500–often hailed as the world’s premier growth engine–struggled to accrue half of these returns, with a yield under 400%.
Bitcoin’s Explosive Gains Undermine Safe-Haven Angle
Gold has outpaced nearly every traditional investment and precious metal in recent years, but Bitcoin is hands-down the most explosive asset of the 21st century.
Measured across the same timeframe (from January 1, 2020, to August 8, 2025), the flagship cryptocurrency surged more than 1,500%. On an annualized basis, that works out to nearly 65% per year, over four times gold’s return during the same period.
Yet, it’s precisely this extreme volatility that calls Bitcoin’s safe-haven status into question, according to Rothschild & Co. The global financial advisory firm characterizes crypto more as a speculative “get-rich-quick” play than a reliable hedge, dismissing its dramatic growth as “unconvincing.”
“In the Bitcoin vs. gold debate, we strongly prefer the latter,” the firm said.
That sentiment echoes J.P. Morgan’s stance, which continues to view gold, not Bitcoin, as the superior debasement trade for investors.
“Overbought” Despite Strong Rally
Rothschild & Co. backs up its gold-positive talk with a “slightly overweight” portfolio position in the metal. Despite gold hovering near record highs, the firm keeps it as a core holding. That view mirrors the wider market: HSBC’s Affluent Investor Snapshot 2025 found gold allocations jumped 120%, the steepest increase across asset classes, as investors cut dollar exposure and double down on stability.