Cathie Wood, chief executive of ARK Invest and a longtime Bitcoin advocate, said Bitcoin is entering a phase of outperformance against gold, pointing to an improving Bitcoin-to-gold ratio during a recent episode of the firm's "In The Know" podcast.

Discussing a chart on the program, Wood noted that Bitcoin was rising while gold was falling. She described the improving ratio as a turn in Bitcoin's favour, saying, "So we do think the turn is in here for Bitcoin."

Bitcoin Can Beat Gold Without Rising in Dollars

The Bitcoin-to-gold ratio divides Bitcoin's dollar price by gold's dollar price per troy ounce, showing how many ounces of gold a single Bitcoin can buy. The measure rises when Bitcoin appreciates faster than gold, but it can also improve because gold falls while Bitcoin holds its price. In other words, the gauge captures relative performance rather than absolute gains. The ratio is a common reference point in the debate over whether Bitcoin can take on gold's traditional store-of-value role.

A rising ratio therefore does not guarantee a dollar profit. Bitcoin can lose value and still outperform gold if the metal falls further. The distinction becomes clear when the two assets' price changes are calculated together.

The measurement period also matters. Bitcoin trades through weekends, while conventional gold markets operate on different hours. Comparing prices from matching timestamps avoids treating a Bitcoin move against an older gold quote as simultaneous outperformance. Likewise, a few days of improvement can look different from a comparison spanning several months.

Wood cited ARK research covering the period since 2019 that put Bitcoin's correlation with gold at around 0.1, and said the relationship had recently turned negative. The low figure describes a weak relationship in the measure she referenced; it does not identify which asset delivers higher returns. Bitcoin's "digital gold" label reflects a store-of-value argument and does not require its price to track gold's.

Gold Has Fallen, but Sources of Demand Remain

Gold's late-September decline provides a separate market backdrop. Reuters reported that the metal fell roughly 4% on September 28 as a stronger dollar, rising Treasury yields and expectations of tighter monetary policy weighed on prices. It then recovered some ground the following day.

The retreat illustrates how weakness in gold can improve Bitcoin's relative position without a comparable increase in Bitcoin's own price. It does not independently establish the size or duration of the turn Wood described, which would require comparing both assets over the period shown in her chart.

Gold's demand also extends beyond expectations for the dollar and interest rates. In its July outlook for the rest of 2026, the World Gold Council identified reserve diversification as a reason for continued central bank buying—a channel that has been a substantial source of demand in recent years—and described geopolitical uncertainty as a support for investment demand. Those sources of demand could help gold withstand pressure from a stronger dollar.

Where the Dollar Fits Into Wood's Argument

Wood expects technology-led investment to support the U.S. dollar while productivity gains reduce inflation. Her expectation of dollar strength helps explain why she anticipates further pressure on gold. Quoting Bitcoin and gold in the same currency makes their prices comparable, but it does not remove the dollar's economic influence on either market.

Raoul Pal, co-founder of financial media company Real Vision, focuses on a different outcome. In our coverage of his Bitcoin outlook and the dollar, he looks for dollar weakness to help support a sustained crypto recovery. His financing argument concerns conditions for a longer Bitcoin advance, while Wood's comparison concerns how Bitcoin performs against gold. Relative gains can occur even when conditions remain difficult for a rally in dollar terms.

Bitcoin's Lead Needs to Survive a Gold Recovery

If Bitcoin retains its relative gains while gold recovers, its advantage would be harder to explain through weakness in the metal alone. That would provide stronger evidence of Bitcoin's own price strength than a ratio that improves mainly during gold sell-offs.

Buying data could help assess that strength. Persistent net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs, which hold the cryptocurrency directly, would indicate demand through one identifiable channel, although they would not capture every buyer. A rising ratio by itself cannot establish that investors are selling gold to purchase Bitcoin; evidence of such rotation would have to come from their transactions or allocations.

If gold rebounds faster than Bitcoin and the ratio falls back, the turn Wood identified would look less durable. Bitcoin could still rise in dollars during that period, but it would be losing purchasing power against gold. That would weaken her relative-performance call without necessarily ending Bitcoin's dollar-price recovery.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Market relationships can change, and past performance does not guarantee future returns.

Source: Coindoo