Bitcoin buys more gold than ever, with one ounce now costing under 0.035 BTC

Bitcoin (BTC) is now worth more in gold than at any time in its history as the largest cryptocurrency passes $50,000.

Data noted by markets commentator Holger Zschaepitz on Wednesday confirms that one ounce of gold now buys just 0.0352 BTC.

XAU/BTC plumbs new depths

Since hitting new all-time highs on Wednesday, the price of gold in Bitcoin terms became even cheaper, with one ounce costing $1,794, or 0.0349 BTC, at the time of writing.

"Bitcoin is eating gold in one chart!" Zschaepitz declared in comments.

Responding, analytics account Ecoinometrics added that gold's underperformance versus Bitcoin simply increases if longer time frames are taken into account.

Bitcoin's one-year risk-adjusted returns topped 270%, compared with 24% for gold, as of Dec. 28, 2020. Four-year returns contain an even starker contrast, with 2,675% versus 64% for Bitcoin and gold, respectively. 

"When looking at Bitcoin vs. gold don't zoom out too much or gold will turn into the horizontal axis," Ecoinometrics commented, presenting accompanying charts.

Schiff holds out against a deluge of Bitcoin gains

Despite the figures, gold bugs continue to pit Bitcoin against the precious metal and predict disastrous consequences for those holding BTC as the correlation between the two assets has noticeably decreased since September 2020. 

Among them is Peter Schiff, who in his latest Twitter spat with proponents — including his son, Bitcoin hodler Spencer Schiff — maintained that BTC/USD is destined to go to zero.

When asked whether the process would take thousands of years or longer by Bitcoin Foundation founder Charlie Shrem, Schiff replied that it should be a lot sooner.

"Serious answer — I doubt it will take anywhere near that long," he claimed.

"But there may still be a bid in #Bitcoin for years after it collapses to near zero so who knows how many more it will take before that bid disappears completely."

A $1 million Bitcoin, he added, was "highly unlikely."

Spencer subsequently reminded him of a prediction he made in June 2020 in which Schiff claimed that Bitcoin was "highly unlikely" to hit $50,000.