Silver crushes crypto as ‘digital gold’ narrative unravels

Silver is leaving cryptocurrencies in the dust, delivering a brutal reversal for the “digital gold” trade as investors pile into physical assets amid trade war fears and geopolitical uncertainty.

Silver surged more than 8% on Monday to a record above $110 an ounce, extending a rally that has pushed the metal up roughly 270% since early 2025. Over the same period, major cryptocurrencies have slumped when measured against silver, with XRP collapsing nearly 80% relative to the metal since July 2025—highlighting a dramatic shift in investor preference away from digital assets and toward tangible safe havens.

The divergence has been stark. XRP has fallen from roughly 0.10 ounces of silver per token in July 2025 to just over 0.02 today, an 80% drop in seven months. Bitcoin has declined about 11% over the past year while silver exploded higher, leaving silver’s market capitalization roughly 3.5 times larger than Bitcoin’s—a striking blow to crypto’s long-held “store of value” narrative.

Other digital assets have fared little better. Ethereum is down about 70% against silver over the past year, while Solana has lost more than 60%.

“Altcoins continue to plunge to new lows when valued in silver,” analyst Benjamin Cowen wrote this week.

The rally in precious metals has been fueled by intensifying global uncertainty. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on Canada if it strikes a trade deal with China has reignited trade-war fears, driving investors toward physical assets. Demand has been particularly strong in China and India, where buying of one-kilogram silver bars has tightened supply, prompting some Chinese manufacturers to pivot from jewelry to investment products.

Expectations that Trump could replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell with a more dovish successor have also boosted metals. Lower interest rates typically favor non-yielding assets like gold and silver, drawing capital away from riskier markets such as crypto.

The scale of the shift is now visible at the global level. With gold rallying to roughly $5,100 an ounce and silver topping $110, the combined market value of the two metals has climbed to about $41 trillion, according to CompaniesMarketCap.com. That puts precious metals at nearly double the combined market capitalization of the “Magnificent Seven” U.S. tech giants—and far ahead of the entire cryptocurrency market.

As The Kobeissi Letter noted, silver is now outperforming Bitcoin by one of its widest margins on record, underscoring how decisively investors are favoring hard assets as volatility reshapes global markets.