Gold, silver and bitcoin tumble as 'debasement' trade unwinds

Gold, silver and bitcoin tumble as 'debasement' trade unwinds

Markets

Gold, silver and bitcoin tumble as 'debasement' trade unwinds

Precious metals have fallen sharply from their 2025 highs as markets price in Fed rate hikes.

By

James Van Straten

|

Edited by

Cheyenne Ligon

Updated

Jun 24, 2026, 3:26 p.m.

Published

Jun 24, 2026, 1:48 p.m.

2

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

Silver (TradingView)

Summary

Show

Gold has dropped 28% from its January 2025 peak of $5,600 per ounce, while silver has fallen more than 50% from its record high near $120.

Bitcoin has gained roughly 30% against gold and 55% against silver since February, though all three assets continue to lag U.S. equities

Markets are pricing in two 25 basis point rate hikes by March 2027.

Gold and silver have both retreated sharply from their January 2025 highs, falling below key psychological milestones. Gold is down roughly 28% from its January peak of $5,600 and now trading below $4,000 per ounce, while silver has fallen more than 50%, slipping beneath $59 per ounce on Wednesday.

The sell-off has been driven largely by growing fears of tighter monetary policy under new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh.

Markets are currently

pricing in two 25 basis point rate hikes by March 2027, which would lift the federal funds rate to 4.00%-4.25% due to renewed inflation fears.

The reversal marks a dramatic shift from the dominant macro narrative of 2025, the "

debasement trade

", the belief that persistent fiscal deficits and rising government debt would continue to erode the purchasing power of fiat currencies.

Bitcoin, however, largely stagnated throughout much of 2025, trading around the $100,000 level while gold and silver rallied aggressively. The divergence led many investors to question whether bitcoin still belonged in the debasement trade and whether its role as a hedge against fiat currency dilution had weakened.

Bitcoin has continued to fall during the broader correction. The cryptocurrency now sits below $62,000, a 50% correction from its October all-time high and is trading below its long term 200 week moving average of approximately $62,800.

BTC/Gold (TradingView)

Bitcoin leads metals, lags equities

One silver lining for bitcoin bulls is that the cryptocurrency has outperformed both precious metals since the ratios bottomed in February, gaining roughly 30% against gold and more than 55% against silver.

However, all three assets have lagged U.S. equities in 2026, where momentum remains concentrated in semiconductor and memory-related stocks.

Bitcoin News

Latest Crypto News

1

Asset management giant Invesco files for tokenized fund targeting stablecoin reserve market

6 hours ago

2

Coinbase's Base blockchain resumes after two-hour outage disrupted network

8 hours ago

3

Strategy's yield-generating STRC stock is more correlated with BTC than ever

9 hours ago

4

Kraken in talks to buy 15% stake in DeFi lender Aave at $385 million valuation

9 hours ago

5

a16z-backed crypto firm rebrands, shifts focus to solving AI’s global copyright headache

10 hours ago

6

BlackBerry is making a massive comeback as an 'uncrashable' software layer for AI and robotics

11 hours ago

7

Strategy has a 10-month cash runway for dividends, but retail investors are losing faith

11 hours ago

8

Quant fund says bitcoin is near a major inflection point as rare onchain signals align

11 hours ago

9

Bitcoin tumbles to new multi-year low of $58,000, but a short-squeeze setup emerges

12 hours ago

10

Crypto for Advisors: Bitcoin: planning for inheritance

12 hours ago

Latest Research

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

CEX Volumes Drop to Lowest Since September 2024 as RWA Perps Hit Record High

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jun 15, 2026

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

Why it matters

:

In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41T; the lowest since September 2024. RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% against the trend, hitting a new all-time high.

View Full Report

More From

Markets

Strategy's yield-generating STRC stock is more correlated with BTC than ever

BlackBerry is making a massive comeback as an 'uncrashable' software layer for AI and robotics

Strategy has a 10-month cash runway for dividends, but retail investors are losing faith

CD20

$1,571.04

CD20 down 4.01 percent

4.01%

BTC

$58,853.01

BTC down 3.21 percent

3.21%

ETH

$1,529.69

ETH down 5.40 percent

5.40%

XRP

$1.02

XRP down 4.77 percent

4.77%

SOL

$66.74

SOL down 1.27 percent

1.27%