Gold, bitcoin up as investors buy scarcity hedges

NEW YORK: Investors are no longer choosing between gold and bitcoin as hedges against fiscal anxiety. They’re buying both.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the assets attracted a record US$7bil over the past five trading days, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, putting some of the biggest gold and bitcoin vehicles alongside the stock market giants at the top of the ETF flow rankings.

Nearly US$3.4bil poured into the State Street Investment Management’s SPDR Gold Share (GLD), while BlackRock Inc’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) took in US$1.5bil.

Both cracked the top 10 US ETFs by inflows for the week, with GLD trailing only a handful of funds, including the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO).

The simultaneous rush is notable after periods when gold’s haven appeal strengthened while bitcoin struggled to make the same case. Now the two versions of the scarcity trade are moving together again, propelled by renewed anxiety over US borrowing, the dollar and efforts to contain long-term yields.

The proximate catalyst came from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s plan to double long-dated Treasury buybacks.

The announcement initially pushed yields and the dollar lower while gold and bitcoin jumped, giving fresh ammunition to investors looking for assets whose supply sits beyond the government’s reach.