Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, went to X on Saturday and took a jab at gold. “Not against gold, but it’s not a limited supply asset,” he posted. That one line was enough to piss off gold bugs and draw another line between the crypto crowd and the precious metals faithful.
CZ made it clear why he still bets on Bitcoin: it’s capped, and gold isn’t. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to. This came as gold’s outstanding rally seemingly comes to a halt.
On Friday, spot gold slid 0.4% to $3,228.50 an ounce, putting it on track for a 2.6% weekly loss. This was after it hit a record high of $3,500.05 on April 22. But by last Thursday, it dropped to the lowest level since April 14. US gold futures still closed up 0.6% at $3,243.30, though that didn’t reverse the trend.
Gold was struggling as the US and China both toned down the trade war talk. China’s commerce ministry said the US had shown interest in working things out on tariffs, and that Beijing was open to discussion. The easing tension hurt demand for safe assets. The fear that had driven gold higher was fading.
Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, said, “Gold looks like $3,500 may be a top for a little while,” especially if more trade deals start showing up and risk appetite comes back. He pointed out that a drop in panic usually means gold cools down. That’s what’s happening now.
At the same time, the US jobs report landed. It showed that nonfarm payrolls jumped by 177,000 last month. That crushed the estimate of 130,000. Even so, the stronger job numbers made traders think the Federal Reserve might not cut rates in June. The 10-year Treasury yield went up. That usually makes gold look worse, since it doesn’t give returns.
Gold wasn’t the only metal taking a hit. Silver dropped 1.3% to $31.98. Platinum inched up 0.1% to $959.20, and palladium gained 0.6% to $946.18. But all three were still heading for weekly losses. The entire metal market was cooling off.
Bitcoin inches closer to gold
While gold stumbled, Bitcoin was making moves. It’s still up less than 1% for the year, but that’s better than the S&P 500, which has dropped over 6%.
After hitting its 2025 low on April 8, Bitcoin bounced back around 20%. It didn’t beat gold’s 26% rise this year, but it came close. That rebound mattered for people watching the fight between old money and new.
Bitcoin’s top hater Peter Schiff didn’t stay quiet either. He went on X and said, “It should be clear from recent price action that claims that Bitcoin has decoupled from the NASDAQ and now trades more like gold are false.” He told people worried about inflation to buy gold.
“If you want to bet on the NASDAQ,” said Peter, “just buy tech stocks.” Peter added the market would get hit by falling Treasury prices and a weaker dollar, which would drive up borrowing costs and debt.
The tie between Bitcoin and gold has changed a lot. Between 2020 and 2024, they usually moved together. But by the end of March this year, that pattern broke. A CNBC report showed the 25-week rolling correlation between the two dropped to -0.42.
That’s the lowest since early 2020. The April rebound pushed the number back up to -0.28, but that still means they’re not closely tied. A number like -0.42 means when gold goes up 1%, Bitcoin drops 0.42%. That’s a big gap for two assets people used to treat the same.
Even though April looked good for both, their relationship is shaky. The numbers show that Bitcoin and gold aren’t moving in sync. But some believe they might again. That’s where Geoff Kendrick, head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered, comes in.
In a March note, he wrote that Bitcoin isn’t really gold. It acts more like tech. “Investors might benefit from viewing Bitcoin as both an additional big tech stock and as a hedge against traditional finance,” Geoff said.
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