Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise Asset Management, claims that Bitcoin’s real competition is not gold but government-backed bonds such as U.S. Treasuries and UK gilts.

In an X (previously called Twitter) post dated June 20, Horsley criticized that though both gold and Bitcoin can represent apolitical stores of value, the instruments Bitcoin is actually competing with are highly politically and monetarily manipulated. Horsley wrote:

“I think Bitcoin’s competition is going to end up being U.S. Treasuries and other Government’s Bonds (eg UK gilts): the ultimate political SOVs.”

Global Sentiment Drives Bitcoin’s Core Value

At the retail level, however, Horsley indicated that people tend to use residential real estate as a store of value over government bonds. His comments highlight the ideology and structural difference between Bitcoin and conventional financial instruments.

Compared with traditional assets like treasuries, where the price and interest can be fully determined by interest rate, inflation, and fiscal policy, Bitcoin and gold obtain their value depending on the overall sentiment and investor psychology.

Horsley has also emphasized that Bitcoin has high liquidity and accessibility, being a more practical option than gold. He further commented that regulatory uncertainty has traditionally been considered the greatest threat to Bitcoin but this issue has subsided as the current U.S. administration became more crypto-friendly.

However, Bitcoin is not gaining adoption by mainstream investors at an adequate rate. Horsley explained this by what he termed as institutional fatigue, whereby numerous investors were too busy to take up new opportunities all the time. He said:

“Most investors and allocators are very busy. They’re constantly presented with opportunities, including things that could 10x. Why do they need to turn their attention to Bitcoin, which for many is still a complicated topic.”

He also warned against positioning Bitcoin as “digital gold” in the U.S. where investor interest in gold is comparatively low.