Is bitcoin still digital gold? What could drive prices next

Yahoo Finance Video and Brian Sozzi

Thu, February 12, 2026 at 4:30 AM GMT+9

In this video:

BTC-USD

-2.33%

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) continues to face pressure after underperforming gold in 2025, signaling a shift from speculative hype toward real-world use cases.

Deutsche Bank senior strategist Marion Laboure sits down with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi and Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Ines Ferré to discuss bitcoin Polymarket predictions, potential catalysts amid market volatility, and more.

For more predictions market insight, check out the new Yahoo Finance Polymarket Hub.

For more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, watch Opening Bid.

Video Transcript

00:00 Speaker A

Marion, do we need to put to bed finally that that Bitcoin is digital gold?

00:07 Marion

So so if we think about that, uh if I look at the 2025 uh performance, it’s not a digital gold or it’s no longer a digital gold. Gold outperformed by 65% in 2025. Uh Bitcoin declined by 6.5%. So we are clearly seeing uh this uh divergence. Uh Bitcoin, uh I would say it’s not a mean of payment, it’s not a currency, uh it’s unlikely to replace gold or fiat currencies. Uh and I I think the way I see Bitcoin is we are in this transi we are in we are transitioning between a pure speculative asset to a more realistic use case.

00:43 Speaker A

I was toiling around this morning, the new Yahoo Finance prediction markets hub, uh of course, powered by Polymarket, just trying to get a sense of what folks are thinking about on where Bitcoin prices might head next. You could see some of those see some of those uh forecasts or bets or the activity on the screen right now. Marion, what what could be the catalyst that gets Bitcoin going in the right direction? There’s been some chatter this week that Bitcoin whales are starting to buy Bitcoin again. And when you think about a Bitcoin whale, you think about a Michael Saylor, really those deep pocketed investors. And what gets Bitcoin going back up into the right?

01:15 Marion

Yeah, and it’s important to look at the fundamentals on what happened over the past uh two or three years. Uh if I look at prices in November 2023, uh one Bitcoin was worth $35,000. and 2024, 2025 were exceptional years for Bitcoin. Uh in 2024, if we remember, we had a strong performance driven by the ETF uh approvals. We had the having episode for Bitcoin. Uh we had uh very positive uh stance from uh President Trump towards the crypto industry. Uh he got elected in November and prices doubled uh in 2024. 2025, I would say was a mixed year, uh with tariffs, uh but uh the Genius Act for stable coins was also signed uh in July. Uh and we had this decoupling uh from gold on one side, uh and we can still see some appetite for gold uh due to geopolitics. Uh many central banks uh have uh massively buying gold. Uh so so we can really see it. Uh but all these factors uh alone uh probably didn’t fully explain the move that we had from uh $35,000 uh in November 2023 uh to over $120,000 uh in in in October uh last year.

02:14 Speaker A

And Ines, you know, I was thinking about uh trying to come up with new reasons or any reason why we’ve seen this pull back in Bitcoin. And I just I’m coming back to this. Bitcoin has just gotten boring. I look at what happened, uh what’s going on in AI, just an exciting moment continuing in AI. Yeah, software has been hurt, but that is an exciting development. I look at companies like a Pepsico right in the middle of reinventing itself. Even Ford last night said it’s really cutting back on EV production. It’s profits might accelerate this year as it no longer makes EVs that people don’t want. What I’m trying to say is there other more, I guess, positive fundamental stories out there, Ines, that people can I think better understand than Bitcoin.

02:47 Ines

Yeah, you know, Bernstein analysts basically said something similar that AI is uh that Bitcoin is boring compared to what’s happening in AI. Of course, just like you said. Um, look, uh I think that there’s there’s a couple of reasons why we have seen sort of the sentiment sour on Bitcoin. I mean, you had the whale selling. Yes, you saw an uptick in whale buying last week, but nonetheless, they have been net sellers over the past year. So that is not good for sentiment. You also have this concern about quantum computing and what that will do, although Wall Street is saying that those fears are overblown, but still those fears are out there. And then you’ve got the regulatory sort of stall uh right now that’s happening. And so until you have this as these catalysts, the the regulation that will uh encourage more crypto adoption, you’re going to see this sort of stall that we’ve seen with this or this down downtrend that we’ve seen with Bitcoin and with other cryptocurrencies. The question is, have we reached a bottom? And by the way, one other point, the four-year cycle, yes, it exists, whether it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy or not, we are seeing it in real time that it exists.

03:46 Speaker A

Yeah, I love what Michael uh Sailor uh thinks about that one. Final word to you, Marion, is the Bitcoin bottom in?

03:52 Marion

It it’s a very good question. Actually, uh going back to the to to my point previously, uh we talked about regulation and I really see regulation as a net positive for the industry. Uh Bitcoin is going to remain uh highly volatile. Uh I also feel that the value is based on part of the value is based on wishful thinking and this Tinkerbell effect I was mentioning. Um, but yeah, I think it’s going to remain volatile. Uh when we look at the price, uh it’s sorry, it’s around $70,000 these days, uh which is still very, very high compared to 2023. Uh and now, uh we need to make sure that uh we are transitioning from this uh purely speculative asset class uh to a real asset class uh where we can really see some uh real use cases.

04:32 Speaker A

Uh Marion, really enjoyed your piece of research. Uh please do keep it coming. And Ines Ferre, keep your reporting coming. Love everything you’re doing. Appreciate all the crypto analysis, you all. Thanks so much.

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