Bitcoin Surpasses Gold as Ratio Reaches 18

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest has reaffirmed its bullish stance on Bitcoin, citing the cryptocurrency's improving performance relative to gold as a positive sign. The Bitcoin-to-gold ratio recently reached about 18, its strongest level since January, with Bitcoin gaining roughly 22% over the past month while spot gold rose about 2%. Wood described this trend as 'very reassuring' and said BTC still has 'miles to go' as a monetary system and emerging asset class.

ARK Invest's September market commentary highlighted that the ratio measures how much gold one Bitcoin can buy, with a rising ratio indicating that Bitcoin is gaining purchasing power relative to gold. Despite Bitcoin remaining below its recent highs of $82,000, institutional demand has remained supportive, with U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracting nearly $1 billion in weekly inflows.

One complication mentioned in the commentary is that Bitcoin and gold have recently become more correlated, but this does not contradict Wood's argument. Correlation measures whether two assets move in the same direction, whereas the BTC-gold ratio measures which one is outperforming. This means that Bitcoin and gold can rise together while BTC still gains faster.