Technology reinforces the shine of gold as a safe haven par excellence.

Gold has been the most valued metal by humankind since time immemorial. While all currencies that have existed have tended to disappear over time, gold has always endured. However, the need to physically store it has been a deterrent for many investors. In an increasingly digital world, traveling to a store to buy, store, and sell it whenever you want is becoming less practical. For this reason, alternatives such as gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are gaining appeal. Others are even beginning to consider Bitcoin as a modern equivalent within the blockchain universe, due to its scarcity.

Regardless of the vehicle used, investment in gold remains fully alive and well. Since mid-2022, when its price was around $1,600 per ounce, the metal has risen nearly 47%, recently reaching all-time highs of around $2,350. This trend reflects renewed interest in value-preserving instruments in an environment of growing instability, fueled by the war in Ukraine , tensions in the Middle East, and the uncertainty stemming from Donald Trump's turbulent return to the US presidency.

In this context of a search for safety, ETFs have established themselves as one of the most widely used channels for channeling demand. "The proliferation of gold-linked exchange-traded funds has been key to expanding their accessibility among both retail and institutional investors," notes market analyst Javier Cabrera.

These instruments allow portfolio exposure to be adjusted quickly and without the need to resort to physical gold, certificates, or futures. So far this year, gold ETFs have raised more than $32 billion net , with 53.6% coming from North America, he notes. "This same liquidity also allows for quick position unwinding, as happened last week, when redemptions exceeded $3 billion," Cabrera adds. This versatility is especially useful for making tactical portfolio moves, he concludes.

"Although their use is widespread today, the expansion of gold-linked ETFs is not recent, but rather the result of a process consolidated over the last two decades," observes Roberto Scholtes, Head of Strategy at Singular Bank. Their liquidity, low costs, and accumulated volume—more than 15% of global investment in gold—have favored their adoption as a diversifying asset. However, large inflows often coincide with periods of stress. "Since 2022, the price rally has been particularly driven by hedge funds," adds Roberto Scholtes.

Bitcoin's growing prominence has sparked a debate about whether it could replace gold as a hedge. Although they share properties such as scarcity, censorship resistance, and its function as a store of value, " both are assets of a different nature ," warns Javier Pastor, training director at Bit2Me. "Gold has centuries of history and global acceptance, while Bitcoin, barely 16 years old, is still in the consolidation phase," notes this expert.

Even so, its growing adoption is positioning it as a strategic asset in individual, corporate, and even institutional portfolios. Rather than replacing gold, Bitcoin acts as a complement with high potential, thanks to its decentralization, limited supply, and cumulative yield, Pastor argues.

"Bitcoin has introduced new nuances to the classic concept of a hedging instrument," comments Javier Molina, senior analyst at eToro. "Both assets approach risk management from different perspectives: Bitcoin offers greater return projections, albeit with considerably higher volatility ," he says. Gold, meanwhile, "maintains its stabilizing profile, especially in environments marked by uncertainty." According to allocation models such as the mean-CVaR model, it remains more effective at moderating aggregate exposure. Even so, combining them can improve overall efficiency. More than a replacement, "Bitcoin represents a lever for rethinking how wealth preservation strategies are built today."

This evolution is also evident among new investor profiles. Among younger investors, gold has lost some of the historical relevance it held for generations. "Accustomed to operating in digital environments , they value the speed, autonomy, and control offered by on-chain assets," highlights Mario Eguiluz, co-founder of Deblock. For many of them, gold represents a slower and more expensive operation, with associated logistical requirements and additional costs. However, its historical solidity and stabilizing role continue to generate confidence. Therefore, "it is increasingly common for them to opt for mixed strategies, combining Bitcoin for its technological flexibility and gold for its proven resilience in crisis scenarios," comments the co-founder of Deblock.

This coexistence between the tangible and the digital has opened up new ways to protect assets. In an environment where technology is gaining prominence, the physical nature of gold can be perceived as a practical barrier . However, for Uxío Fraga, CEO and founder of Material Bitcoin, there's no need to choose. Gold is still available in its traditional format, and likewise, Bitcoin can be represented through physical devices such as cold wallets.

Although they are often presented as opposing options, Fraga maintains that the two complement each other. Bitcoin offers portability, decentralization, and operational efficiency; gold offers stability and materiality. Both, he emphasizes, can coexist as pillars of a solid strategy in volatile environments.

"Despite the unstoppable advance of digitalization, gold maintains—and reinforces—its structural role as a benchmark," says Ned Naylor-Leyland, gold and silver strategy manager at Jupiter AM. Its recent appreciation confirms its usefulness as a shield against inflation and market shocks, this expert adds. "The support of central banks is a key factor: in the last three years, they have significantly increased their reserves, consolidating gold as one of the pillars of confidence in the global financial system. At a time when the primacy of the dollar and the sustainability of US debt are being questioned, gold is resuming its historic role as a reserve that no government can issue or alter, unlike fiat or digital currencies," emphasizes the gold and silver strategy manager at Jupiter AM.

"In keeping with this long-term vision, gold must continue to occupy a key place in protection-oriented portfolios," adds Naylor-Leyland. Its value lies not only in its price, "but in its role as a solid reserve, independent of monetary decisions or political interests. This quality makes it a reliable basis against prolonged depreciation processes . Furthermore, the greater role it has acquired in official reserves reinforces its strategic profile," she asserts. At the same time, factors such as the structural erosion of the dollar and the decline of the petrodollar system are shaping a new paradigm, where gold is once again emerging as a benchmark of real value in the face of the fragility of traditional currencies.

In this new macroeconomic and geopolitical context, its presence in prudent portfolios remains crucial, especially for its ability to preserve value in uncertain environments. According to Javier Molina of eToro, an optimal gold allocation in a multi-asset portfolio should be between 5% and 10%, although some models adjust it to a more conservative range of 3% to 7%. When Bitcoin is incorporated into the analysis, simulations suggest that a balanced combination of both assets can maximize efficiency without compromising risk control. In this framework, gold provides structural stability and Bitcoin introduces growth potential. The key, Molina points out, is adapting this composition to the investor's profile and time horizon.

At the same time, the digitalization of the financial system has rekindled the debate about trust and the infrastructure that supports assets. Bit2Me's Pastor warns that not all blockchains offer the same levels of transparency or the same intermediary-free architecture. In the case of tokenized gold, the technology can improve traceability, but it does not eliminate the need to trust central custodians. In contrast, this expert believes that Bitcoin represents a "genuinely immutable and decentralized infrastructure, capable of redefining the concepts of verification, sovereignty, and trust" in a world where the physical and digital are no longer rivals, but complementary allies.