January 27, 2026
High on the list of recent developments in the crypto space is the divergent performance of the asset class versus precious metals, which have long been considered the store of value of last resort among capital markets investors. As of this writing, cryptoยน is up just 1% YTD, while gold is up 18%.
Why the discrepant performance? We think it has to do with both fund flows and fundamentals. Precious metals have been benefiting from central bank buying and ETP inflows (see chart). Precious metals ETPs had $2.8 billion in inflows last week, while crypto ETFs saw $2.4 billion in outflows. At the same time, crypto is facing two fundamental headwinds: the setback in the market structure bill (a.k.a., the CLARITY Act) and fears that quantum computing could eventually disrupt the existing infrastructure for the asset class.
Key Takeaway: Bitcoin has not yet achieved the same status as gold among the worldโs most conservative investorsโcentral banks and ultra-high net worth families. But we think that is a matter of time. Interest will increase as those investors become more familiar with the asset class. Education matters. Also, we see the current fundamental issues facing crypto assets as short-term in nature. As we wrote in our 2026 Outlook, we remain bullish on the regulatory environment and are not fretting about quantum computing.
ยน Based on the market cap-weighted FTSE/Grayscale Crypto Sectors Index.
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