Bitcoin and Ethereum Outperform Gold and Global Equities as Institutions and ETFs Accelerate Accumulation

Bitcoin and Ethereum have outperformed gold and global stock markets amid geopolitical tensions, with Wall Street brokerage Bernstein stating Bitcoin's resilience reflects a shift toward institutional dominance and renewed debate over its "digital gold" role. Strategy, described as the "last central bank of Bitcoin," bought 22,337 BTC at roughly $70,194 per coin during a recent downturn, raising its holdings to 761,068 BTC at an average cost of about $75,696, while its stock MSTR trades at a 14% discount to its Bitcoin net asset value and uses high-yield financing via STRC to secure liquidity for further purchases. Over the past three weeks, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $2.1 billion of inflows and now hold roughly 6.1% of total supply, driven by institutional buyers such as wealth managers, pension funds and sovereign investors, whereas retail investors have been net sellers and approximately 60% of Bitcoin has not moved for a year, CoinDesk reports.