Bitcoin Hits a Record $123,000, Outshining Gold as 2025’s Leading Investment

Bitcoin Tops $123,000, Outpacing Gold as Investors Flock to Safe Havens

Mounting geopolitical tensions and economic jitters are sending investors scrambling toward traditional and digital safe havens, with bitcoin and gold emerging as the year’s top performers.

Bitcoin (BTC) soared past $123,000 this week, locking in its highest-ever weekly close at $119,500, following previous record highs. The cryptocurrency is now up nearly 30% so far in 2025, edging out gold’s approximately 27% gains for the year.

Charlie Bilello, Chief Market Strategist at Creative Planning, called the simultaneous surge in these assets unprecedented. “We’ve never witnessed bitcoin and gold ranking as the top two performing assets in any calendar year,” he noted.

Yet analysts caution that such strong moves into non-productive assets often signal investor fear rather than optimism.

“In a healthy market, productive capital allocation gets rewarded. But this environment risks pushing money away from the real economy due to distorted capital costs,” Bilello warned.

Bitcoin has rallied roughly $15,000 since the passage of the so-called “big beautiful bill” on July 3—a move The Kobeissi Letter describes as bitcoin shifting into “crisis mode” amid persistently high U.S. interest rates.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) has slid 11% over the past six months, reflecting weakening confidence in the dollar as trade tensions and geopolitical flare-ups continue. Ongoing issues include stalled tariff negotiations, shifting U.S.-China relations, and escalating conflicts in the Middle East, including recent U.S. military actions involving Iran. The economic outlook is further clouded by the U.S. running a massive $316 billion budget deficit in May, underscoring the nation’s fiscal strain.

Collectively, these forces are driving investors toward assets like bitcoin and gold as perceived safe harbors, raising crucial questions about the future of global markets and how capital might be deployed in a world fraught with uncertainty.