Bitcoin Medals Manufactured At Sakamoto Metal

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Bitcoin is underperforming precious metals now, but experts warn of “short-sighted” view

The debate on investing in digital gold vs. actual gold continues, but it’s helpful to put each one’s performance in context.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

1/28/26 11:18AM

Bitcoin is hovering just below $90,000, a level it’s struggling to break, while precious metals are on a tear, with gold and silver setting new records as the debasement trade continues to fuel the rally.

The DeFi Report compared where bitcoin stood 3.5 months post-peak in the last two cycles, and in this context, the asset still appears to fare well, or less bad, than its performance suggests.

While bitcoin is now down 29% 110 days after it hit its all-time high, during the 2021 cycle, bitcoin was down 41% 110 days after its November 9, 2021, peak. Meanwhile, in the 2017 cycle, bitcoin was down 55% 110 days after its peak on December 18, 2017.

“BTC holding up quite well, relatively speaking. Yet it feels worse this time because other (rival) assets [gold/silver] are outperforming on BTC’s weakness,” according to The DeFi Report.

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, went even further in his precious metals comparisons on X.

“The dread I see from bitcoiners (and the football spiking from the haters) is very short-sighted to me given that since 2022 (right before the BlackRock ETF filing) Bitcoin is up 429%, gold 177%, Silver 350%, QQQ 140%,” he wrote, adding the “institutionalization narrative got priced in very quickly and ahead of it all actually happening.”

The dread I see from bitcoiners (and the football spiking from the haters) is very short-sighted to me given that since 2022 (right before the BlackRock ETF filing) Bitcoin is up 429%, gold 177%, Silver 350%, QQQ 140%. In other words bitcoin spanked everything so bad in '23 and… pic.twitter.com/SPNB9RTdzv
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 27, 2026

Nic Puckrin, cofounder of Coin Bureau, told Sherwood News that the precious metals trade has been gathering momentum for months and, as with any momentum trade, could run for far longer than many expect.

“At this point, we’re likely to see retail FOMO, as investors who have missed out on the metals rally so far pile into the market. For the time being, the macro picture supports a risk-off environment where gold truly shines,” he said.

Sage D. Young1h

The decentralized finance ecosystem had a brutal April, logging the highest monthly number of exploits ever at 28 hacks, with exploiters siphoning off a total of $635.2 million, data from DefiLlama shows.

The two largest exploits in April occurred on ethereum-based protocol KelpDAO and solana-native trading venue Drift. The incidents rattled on-chain users, as the total value locked in DeFi across all networks dropped from a monthly high of $99.5 billion to $84.3 billion on Friday.

“It’s a real problem, and if AI proponents (thinking specifically of Anthropic’s claims about Mythos) are to be believed, it’s only going to get worse,” according to Fredrick Collins, CEO of crypto analytics platform Velo.xyz. Collins argued that these exploits act as a significant limiter of institutional appeal, pointing to TheBlock’s report last week that JPMorgan held a similar view.

“It’s simple — for many people, having any chance that you lose your entire investment or balance in something supposed to be ‘safe’ is too much to bear,” Collins told Sherwood News.

However, not everyone thinks the recent hacks will curb interest from institutions. Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst at blockchain data firm Nansen, said to Sherwood, “I do not think these hacks will be a limit to institutional capital given the impact of AI and the speed at which threats appear stretch far beyond this industry.”

Søndergaard continued, “Crypto to me seems to have been hit harder as many projects perhaps wanted to get a product out there quickly and didn’t invest enough in security, even with companies around to audit.”

DeFi aims to enable internet users to have access to financial services, such as borrowing, lending, and trading, without any centralized intermediaries.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

After bitcoin’s best month in a year, analysts weigh in on factors for it to break $80,000 in May

May has an over 7% average historical return, but whether bitcoin can replicate this result and finally break the $80,000 level hinges on several factors.

Sage D. Young20h

Riot Platforms rises following Q1 revenue beat

The bitcoin miner turned data center operator released first-quarter earnings that surpassed expectations for revenue. Shares built on strong gains from Thursday’s session in after-hours trading following the results.

Riot Platforms reported:

Q1 revenue of $167.2 million, growing 3.6% from the same quarter a year ago and surpassing analysts’ expectations of $131 million.
A diluted loss per share of $1.44, much worse than analysts’ consensus estimate of a $0.72 loss, which includes unrealized loss on its bitcoin holdings.

The bulk of company’s revenue stems from its bitcoin mining activity, which made up $111.9 million in the quarter, while its data center housing revenue stood at $33.2 million, per its press release.

The first quarter of 2026 marks an inflection point for Riot. CFO Jason Chung said on Thursday in the firm’s Q1 earnings conference call, “With the delivery of our first 5 megawatts to AMD this quarter, Riot is now an active data center operator, and for the first time, our top line now includes contracted lease revenue from an investment-grade tenant.”

The earnings report comes the same week the company announced amending its $200 million credit agreement with Coinbase by replacing a floating interest rate with a fixed rate, according to an SEC filing dated on Monday.

Sage D. Young

23h

Trump-backed World Liberty token sinks to new all-time low amid governance proposal to unlock 62 billion tokens

The top 22 addresses voting in favor control 4.8 billion tokens, making up the majority of “yes” votes.