Gold bugs are fuming. For decades they’ve sworn by the yellow metal as the ultimate hedge against political folly — the one store of value that couldn’t be meddled with by presidents, parliaments or central bankers. Then along comes Donald Trump, slapping a 39 per cent tariff on imported bullion, and suddenly the unthinkable has happened: gold itself has become a political football.
The result? A rush not into more Krugerrands, but into Bitcoin. Yes, Bitcoin — the volatile digital upstart that many in the establishment still treat with suspicion — is now back within spitting distance of its all-time high of $123,000, fuelled by a torrent of institutional money that once would have been earmarked for vaults in Zurich or Singapore.
The July figures tell the story. Some $14.9 billion flooded into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, with $12.8 billion of that in US spot ETFs — their best month ever. This is not the play of bored retail punters. This is pension funds, asset managers and hedge funds deciding, quite rationally, that if governments can raise the price of gold with a stroke of a pen, perhaps it’s time to own something that can’t be stopped at a customs post.
Bitcoin is coming into focus for institutional investors
Bitcoin’s selling points are suddenly sharper: no borders, no warehouses, no import duties. It’s not “digital gold” because the marketing people say so, but because the old gold has been politicised. Tariffs haven’t just dented gold’s appeal — they’ve handed Bitcoin its most compelling advertisement yet.
The rally has been helped along by Washington’s recent mood music. Bipartisan legislation — with titles so earnest they could only come from Congress, like the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act — has given investors a clearer sense that digital assets are not about to be regulated into oblivion. For institutions, that matters. Nobody wants to be caught with a portfolio full of assets that the SEC might one day decide shouldn’t exist.
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So we have a rare alignment: political intervention making gold look vulnerable, regulatory shifts making Bitcoin look safer, and institutional money moving in size. This is the kind of macro backdrop crypto evangelists have dreamed about since Satoshi first mined a block.
“Institutional capital doesn’t move lightly, but when a macro shock changes the economics of traditional havens like gold, digital alternatives suddenly look like necessities,” notes Nigel Green, the deVere chief executive. “Bitcoin is benefitting from both clarity in US policy and a growing recognition among institutions that value can — and should — exist outside the constraints of legacy systems.”
Why Trump is good for Bitcoin
Sceptics will point out that Bitcoin is still Bitcoin — prone to dizzying drops as well as euphoric climbs. But this isn’t the frothy, meme-driven mania of 2021. The money coming in now is large, deliberate and, crucially, long-term. The case for Bitcoin is no longer just about speculation; it’s about strategic asset allocation in a world where even “safe” assets can be tripped up by politics.
Trump, intentionally or not, may have done more for Bitcoin in one policy stroke than any blockchain conference ever could. By taxing gold into a corner, he’s reminded markets that the real virtue of a store of value lies in its independence from the whims of government. In that light, Bitcoin doesn’t just look tempting — it looks inevitable.
