Bitcoin Overtakes Gold in U.S. Ownership for the First Time; Data Shows Historical Shift

As per a latest survey by Ohio based River, US residents are now buying more Bitcoin than ever. Data reveals that as of 2025, 50 million American own Bitcoin while only 37 million own Gold. This is major shift as Bitcoin led by US president Trump’s support is now gaining popularity among American masses.

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Are Americans Ditching Gold for Bitcoin?

As reported by Coingape, investors for the first are buying less Gold as demand for Gold sees a sharp decline. On the other hand, the demand for Bitcoin is ever increasing since Donald Trump’s win in US election. Gold is undoubtedly a safe haven when it comes to hedging against inflation and geopolitical uncertainty. It has provided stable returns over the last decade with impressive 25% returns in 2024.

Bitcoin on other hand is tagged as a risky asset due to its volatile nature. But, due to its decentralised narrative and also less government oversight it has become quite popular. It is world’s best performing asset over last decade. Many US states have now announced strategic Bitcoin reserves and are now purchasing BTC.

This shows tremendous rise in confidence among institutions, govt’s and retailers to hold Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Is Outperforming Gold Since 2012

Data shows that other than a few years with high volatility, Bitcoin has outperformed Gold by huge margins. Since, 2012 BTC price rose from $13 to latest $106,000 in 2025 giving a whooping 815,000% returns. While, Gold on the other hand was $1600 in 2012 and now sits at $3300 with a return of 106% returns.

Year-over-Year Returns: Bitcoin vs Gold (2016–2024)This wild difference in returns is driving Bitcoin buying spree not only among retail investors but govt’s and institutions alike. US govt. is one among the largest holder of Bitcoin with 198,000 BTC in their possession followed by China at 190,000 and United Kingdom at 61,000. On the institution side, Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) is at the top with 576,230 BTC followed by Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) at 46,374 and RIOT platform (NASDAQ:RIOT) at 18,692.

The stocks of companies purchasing and holding BTC are also significantly recording surge in share price. One example is Japan based Metaplanet stock (TYO:3350) which has recorded a sharp rise of 121% over last one week. Metaplanet is continuously purchasing Bitcoin and currently holds 7800 BTC.

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