According to market commentators, after a year of big movements on both camps, a marked rift has opened between Bitcoin supporters and precious metals supporters. Bitcoin’s long-term gains are seen as proof that it remains the best-performing asset, while gold and silver have seen a dramatic rally that has surprised some investors. Opinions are divided and the debate is noisy.
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The great advance of Bitcoin since 2015
Bitcoin has climbed about 27,700% since 2015, a figure cited by analyst Adam Livingston. This figure dwarfs the gains recorded for silver and gold over the same period, which are around 400% and 280% respectively.
Livingston argued that even if you ignore Bitcoin’s early years, the cryptocurrency has still far outperformed metals. Some see this as a clear victory for the cryptography thesis. Others are not convinced.
Bitcoin against silver against gold since January 1, 2015:
Silver: 405%
Gold: 283%
Bitcoin: 27,701%Even ignoring the first 6 years of Bitcoin’s existence for the whiners who complain about the timeline comparison…
…gold and silver significantly underperform APEX ASSET.… pic.twitter.com/vdAnatqRKG
–Adam Livingston (@AdamBLiv) December 27, 2025
Critics push back deadlines
Gold advocate Peter Schiff asked Livingston to focus on a shorter period – the last four years – and said Bitcoin’s moment may have passed. The challenge reflects broader concern among metals holders that past performance may not be repeated.
Now just do the last four years. Times have changed. The days of Bitcoin are over.
-Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 27, 2025
Matt Golliher, co-founder of Orange Horizon Wealth, offered a different angle, saying that commodity prices tend to move back toward their manufacturing cost and that higher prices often lead to increased supply. He also pointed out that sources of gold and silver that were unprofitable a year ago are now profitably exploited.
Supply and macroeconomic forces determine prices
Both gold and silver reached new highs in 2025. Reports show that gold reached around $4,533 per ounce and silver approached nearly $80 per ounce. At the same time, the US dollar weakened, with the US dollar index down around 10% for the year.
Several analysts linked the moves to expectations for Fed easing in 2026 and growing geopolitical tensions that may push traders into scarce assets. Zaner Metals strategist Peter Grant said dwindling trading and the Fed’s outlook helped fuel sharp swings.
Surprisingly unpopular opinion: Gold and silver don’t need to slow down for Bitcoin to do well.
Bitcoiners who think this needs to happen, have low T and don’t understand any of these assets.
— _Checkmate 🟠🔑⚡☢️🛢️ (@_Checkmatey_) December 28, 2025
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The path of Bitcoin is not linked to metals
According to Glassnode analysts and macro strategists, Bitcoin does not need gold or silver to cool down before it can rally.
James Check, senior analyst at Glassnode, argued that assets were not required to trade for each other. Macro strategist Lyn Alden echoed this view, noting that the two can both attract demand at the same time and are not strict rivals in practice.
Arthur Hayes added that Fed easing and a weaker dollar should boost scarce assets in general, including digital and physical stores of value.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
