Fidelity Digital Assets wants to settle a debate that has consumed crypto and macro Twitter for years: does Bitcoin need to eat gold’s lunch to go up in price? The answer, according to the firm’s VP of Research Chris Kuiper, is a clean no.
In an updated report titled “Getting Off Zero” for 2026, Fidelity argues that Bitcoin’s value appreciates primarily against the US dollar, driven by macroeconomic forces like liquidity expansion and inflation expectations. Gold doesn’t need to lose for Bitcoin to win.
The zero-allocation problem
The core thesis of the report is deceptively simple. Fidelity frames a zero allocation to Bitcoin as functionally equivalent to holding a short position. In a market-neutral context, choosing to own none of an asset that has outperformed virtually every other investment class over the past decade is itself a directional bet.
The firm’s modeling suggests that even modest Bitcoin allocations, in the range of 1-3% of a traditional portfolio, can meaningfully improve risk-adjusted returns. For investors willing to push further, allocations of up to roughly 9-10% can maximize those returns within a standard 60/40 stock-bond portfolio framework.
The recommended source of funds for that allocation? Bonds, not gold. Fidelity’s research points to reallocating from fixed income rather than from precious metals, which reinforces the complementary framing between Bitcoin and gold rather than a cage match between the two.
Complementary, not competitive
One of the more interesting data points in Kuiper’s analysis is the historical pattern of alternating outperformance between Bitcoin and gold. Gold rallied approximately 70% from 2019 to 2020, and Bitcoin followed with a gain exceeding 100%. The two assets tend to take turns leading, responding to overlapping but not identical macro catalysts.
Kuiper emphasizes that while Bitcoin and gold share common drivers, their long-term correlation remains low. Both respond to fiscal anxiety, rising debt levels, and currency debasement fears. But Bitcoin carries what Fidelity describes as a “venture component,” rooted in its technological underpinnings and network growth, that gold simply doesn’t have.
Bitcoin is a 16-year-old protocol with a fixed supply cap of 21 million coins and a still-expanding adoption curve. Fidelity’s framework holds that treating Bitcoin and gold as substitutes misses the point — they’re solving overlapping but distinct problems in a portfolio.
The institutional backdrop
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products now hold approximately $123 billion in assets under management, a figure that would have seemed fantastical just two years ago.