Bitcoin posted a new price record on March 5, breaking above $69,200 for the first time in history. The historic moment in the Bitcoin community coincided with successful developments in traditional financial markets, with gold reaching an all-time high on the same day. According to data from TradingView, spot gold broke its all-time high record at $2,130 at around 1:30 pm UTC on March 5, surpassing its previous highs around $2,000 set in early December. In less than two hours, Bitcoin also posted a historic high, reaching a $69,210 price mark at 3:00 pm UTC. Bitcoin’s new all-time high came more than two years after it surged to $69,000 on Nov. 9, 2021. The new all-time highs marked the first time ever for Bitcoin and gold to hit new records simultaneously since the emergence of Bitcoin in 2009, according to the price charts. The community quickly addressed the events as another “bad day for fiat money,” as both gold and Bitcoin are often seen as potential hedges against fiat currencies and inflation. Some analysts believe that gold and Bitcoin are rallying to new highs on the prospect of lower interest rates in the future to keep sovereign debt loads manageable. The simultaneous all-time highs of gold and Bitcoin are occurring against a backdrop of relatively high interest rates, or 4.5% plus, across the developed world, according to StoneX global head of research Matthew Weller. In a statement to Cointelegraph, the analyst said: “From elevated risk appetite to sticky inflation to record debt levels to ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, there are plenty of reasons that traders are seeking out alternatives to traditional fiat currencies in the current environment.” For Bitcoin, the ongoing rally is largely contributed by the excitement about the upcoming quadrennial halving event and the massive inflows in spot BTC exchange-traded funds in the United States, Weller noted. Amid the historic highs, some major Bitcoin bulls have expressed more confidence in Bitcoin over gold. “I’m investing in Bitcoin over gold all day, every day,” billionaire Shark Tank star Mark Cuban said in a CNBC interview on March 5. Prominent gold bull Peter Schiff subsequently pushed back against Cuban’s statements. “This shark is swimming in the wrong tank,” Schiff argued in a post on X. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is up 52% year-to-date, according to data from CoinGecko. Spot gold is up around 2% since the beginning of January. Source : Cointelegraph by Helen Partz / Mar 6, 2024