Dan Morehead: Bitcoin will leave gold behind over the next decade

NEW YORK — Bitcoin may be struggling in the near term, but its long-term outlook remains compelling, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead said Tuesday, urging investors to look beyond the current market cycle.

Speaking alongside Bitmine Immersion Chairman Tom Lee at the Ondo Summit in New York, Morehead said bitcoin is poised to significantly outperform gold over the next decade.

“In 10 years, bitcoin will massively outperform gold,” Morehead said, framing the case around the long-term erosion of fiat currencies.

He argued that even so-called stable money steadily loses value. “Paper money is being debased at about 3% a year,” Morehead said. “Over a lifetime, that’s close to a 90% loss. It’s rational to own assets with a fixed supply, like gold or bitcoin.”

Morehead noted that bitcoin and gold tend to trade in cycles, with investor attention rotating between the two. While gold has recently outperformed, he said inflows into bitcoin and gold exchange-traded funds have been broadly comparable over recent years.

Lee echoed the bullish sentiment and questioned the idea that crypto follows a rigid four-year cycle. He pointed to rising activity on Ethereum and the scale of deleveraging during the October 2025 selloff as evidence that market dynamics are shifting.

“That was a bigger wipeout than November 2022,” Lee said, suggesting traditional cycle models may no longer apply.

Morehead also emphasized that institutional exposure to crypto remains limited despite the introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs. “Many large asset managers still have zero allocation to bitcoin or crypto,” he said. “You can’t really call it a bubble when institutional ownership is essentially zero.”

According to Morehead, many of the long-standing barriers to institutional adoption are fading. He cited improvements in custody, infrastructure and regulatory clarity as key factors behind his continued optimism.

He added that blockchain’s long-term returns and low correlation with traditional markets make it a rare asset class that offers both growth potential and diversification.

Lee agreed, saying blockchain technology is increasingly becoming embedded in financial services in ways that may be invisible to end users. Stablecoins, tokenized assets and crypto-enabled neobanks are already examples of this shift, he said.

On the regulatory front, both speakers said the U.S. is approaching a pivotal moment. Morehead described the environment as moving from outright hostility toward a more neutral stance, calling the shift “night and day.”

Looking ahead, Morehead said geopolitical forces could provide an additional catalyst, as countries reassess the risks of holding reserves in assets vulnerable to political control. Bitcoin, he argued, offers an alternative that is harder to censor or freeze.

That dynamic, he said, could play an important role in driving long-term adoption.