Bitcoin has taken a breather from its throne as 2025’s “hottest trade,” but don’t start writing its obituary just yet.
Alex Thorn , the sharp-as-a-tack head of research at Galaxy Digital, says that this digital gold isn’t disappearing into the night.
Bitcoin-to-gold ratio
Earlier this year, Bitcoin was the financial rock star riding high on the Trump administration’s tailwind after the election.
Everyone from Wall Street to main street was riding the crypto bandwagon. Thorn reminds us, though, that such starry-eyed obsession can’t last forever. And it didn’t.
The frenzy cooled as investors chased new shiny objects, AI, nuclear energy, quantum tech, and, trust it or not, good old-fashioned gold.
Gold, long the granddaddy of safe havens, suddenly stole some thunder.
JPMorgan’s analysts flagged gold’s rollercoaster volatility, tricking some into thinking Bitcoin might be the spunkier play.
Their Bitcoin-to-gold volatility ratio dropping to 1.8 suggests BTC carries less relative risk than gold’s recent spikes.
That’s crypto’s way of saying, “Hey, I’m not just a wild child, I’m getting responsible.”
Quantum computing
Now, Thorn isn’t just whistling a happy tune about a mature market, he’s watching power shift between old Bitcoin hands and newcomers.
This distribution, he claims, is just what the doctor ordered for a healthy ecosystem. Galaxy Digital dialed back its year-end Bitcoin price target from a heady $185K to a more grounded $120K.
That’s still a solid 17% jump from the current $103K-ish level. So, not quite moonshot, but definitely not spinning wheels either.
And the crypto world is split on another front, the specter of quantum computing.
Some voices, like Amit Mehra from Borderless Capital, say quantum is still a sci-fi villain years away from cracking Bitcoin’s armor.
Others, including Charles Edwards from Capriole, are ringing alarm bells, demanding urgent upgrades before it’s too late. It’s a classic techno-thriller debate evolving in real time.
Dot-com madness?
Adding spice to the soup, Bitcoin and Nvidia stocks began waltzing to an eerily similar beat, analysts say raising red flags about a possible bubble mimicry reminiscent of the late ’90s dot-com madness.
So, Bitcoin’s chapter in 2025 might not be the flashy bestseller it was early in the year, but its story is definitely far from over.
It’s settling into a “mature era,” one where shifting investor focus and technological battles shape the next thrilling pages.
The digital titan’s “attention always comes back”.
Bitcoin’s latest cooling phase feels less like a crash and more like a deep breath before the next sprint.
The frenzy of early 2025, fueled by political optimism and market FOMO, was always bound to fade — yet what remains is the foundation of a maturing asset.
Alex Thorn’s words capture a key truth: Bitcoin’s evolution mirrors gold’s transformation over decades.
It’s shifting from a speculative lightning bolt into a structured store of value, shaped by new institutional participation and technical resilience.
And as quantum computing debates rage and gold retakes the spotlight, Bitcoin sits quietly, waiting.
History has shown — from every crash to every renaissance — that Bitcoin’s attention always returns, and when it does, it tends to roar back louder than before.
Cryptocurrency and Web3 expert, founder of Kriptoworld
With years of experience covering the blockchain space, András delivers insightful reporting on DeFi, tokenization, altcoins, and crypto regulations shaping the digital economy.
