Bitcoin Dominates 2024, Edges Gold And Major Indices
If there’s one crypto asset that’s poised to grow in 2025, it’s Bitcoin. The first cryptocurrency achieved great success in 2025.
The past few weeks have produced solid data, and analysts have high hopes that it can achieve further breakthroughs. In fact, according to new research, Bitcoin has surpassed traditional asset classes such as gold, solidifying the optimism behind Bitcoin.
The digital currency’s success this year comes as no surprise, thanks to several favorable market conditions, including Donald Trump’s victory in the recent U.S. election.
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According to a report from Creative Planning and a post by Charlie Bilello on Twitter/X, Bitcoin’s performance dwarfed results from other asset classes, with gold returning just 26%.
The same data showed that the Nasdaq 100 index rose 25%, U.S. large-cap stocks rose 24%, mid-cap stocks rose 13%, and convertible bonds rose 10%. While Bitcoin’s numbers have proven to be good, it remains a volatile asset with wild price swings.
With the exception of long-term Treasuries, all major assets rose in 2024, with Bitcoin leading the way for the second year in a row.https://t.co/l5IYmkf6Ih pic.twitter.com/TyStoT73rp
— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) January 1, 2025
Bitcoin leads gold and other U.S. indices
Although Bitcoin has received some criticism and been the subject of regulatory action, it remains the best-performing asset class. Bitcoin has been ahead of all other asset classes since 2011, but for at least three years it has given holders negative returns. For example, in 2018, Bitcoin’s return was -73%.
But most of the time, Bitcoin’s performance has been stable, and in some cases, returns have exceeded 1,000%. According to the same chart, Bitcoin’s return even reached 1,437% in 2011, beating even long-term Treasuries by a “modest” 34%.
In some cases, Bitcoin’s yield has disappointed its holders and investors. If we check the asset’s return this year, we see that it is lower than last year’s return of 156%. Bitcoin was also the best performer among the major asset classes last year, also beating gold.
Bitcoin performs strongly, but volatility remains
Although Bitcoin has outperformed relative to other asset classes for much of the past 14 years, its volatility still causes problems. Owning Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies always carries risks associated with erratic price movements and even policy announcements.
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Since the beginning of 2024, the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled in the $40,000 range. At press time, Bitcoin was trading at US$95,000 and US$97,000.
On December 5 last year, the price of Bitcoin hit the $100,000 mark, and fell below $100,000 again a day later. Ethereum has also joined the surge and volatility, rising nearly 50% this year and currently trading in the $3,400 range.
Featured images are from Newsbit, charts are from TradingView
