Gold vs Bitcoin: Performance Through the Lens of Money Supply

Gold has been one of the strongest performing assets in 2025, rising 38% year to date, outpacing bitcoin23% advance. It's no secret, though, that bitcoin has done wildly better than gold (and pretty much everything else) over its short lifespan. A check of the two popular inflation-resistant assets against a broad measure of U.S. money supply (known as M2) yields further insight about their performances. Adjusted for M2 growth, gold — despite its recent strong run — remains below its 2011 peak and roughly the same level as it was in 1975. The all-time high for gold against M2 occurred in 1980. Bitcoin tells a different story. Each bull cycle has seen BTC hit a record versus M2, including last month when bitcoin touched both an absolute all-time high as well as a new high relative to money supply. Bitcoin relative to M2 money supply [https://cdn.sanity.io/images/s3y3vcno/production/b66f890a543b4b5968714f4fb70196308968358a-3034x1563.png?auto=format] This contrast could highlight the different roles of the two assets. Gold continues to serve as a long-standing hedge and a stabilizer in portfolios, while bitcoin’s behavior shows how new forms of money can…