When the prices of precious metals like gold and silver start going wild and dragging industrial commodities like copper and palladium along for the ride, which is exactly what's happening right now, it's typically the result of some mix of widespread fear and heightened inflation expectations.
In theory, this kind of setup could later push investors toward cryptocurrencies which function as scarcity assets, especially leaders like Bitcoin (BTC +0.84%) and Zcash (ZEC +1.86%). If that happens, it would be quite profitable for those who own those coins today, so let's take a closer look at the dynamics here and appreciate why it's plausible.
Image source: Getty Images.
Why a rush for precious metals could turn into more demand for stores of value
When times get tough, investors often reach for precious metals because they reliably hold their value, in part because there is consistent demand from buyers who need them for industrial purposes. For much of 2025 and all of 2026 so far, precious metals ripped upward, and the odds are good that they will continue to climb for at least a while longer. In short, this looks like a classic case of investors paying up for assets they expect to hold purchasing power when institutions or economies are looking fragile.
But precious metals as a group are not necessarily one big trade that investors pile into at the same time. A long, grinding bull market in metals can reflect structural forces like sovereign debt, geopolitics, or reserve currency diversification that don't automatically translate into a bid for crypto, and there are also a lot of idiosyncratic factors that can cause individual metals to spike in price. Of course, that hasn't stopped crypto investors from hoping for Bitcoin's price to climb with gusto once the market grows tired of bidding up the price of gold.
CRYPTO: BTC
Key Data Points
For that thesis to actually play out, a handful of factors need to line up, two of which are especially pertinent.
First, investors need to continue becoming more skeptical of fiat currencies like the dollar, and that in turn needs to keep the price of hard assets high. In fact, the main driver of the proposed capital rotation from precious metals to crypto, in my view, pretty much has to be a widespread recognition among investors that the prices of those traditional stores of value are unapproachably or unreasonably high.
By the same token, if investors can tell themselves that Bitcoin or similarly scarce cryptocurrencies like Zcash are cheap in comparison to metallic stores of value, it will grease the pipeline for capital to flow from one class of assets to the other. Now let's turn to why Bitcoin and Zcash are particularly likely to benefit from those capital flows, assuming they occur.
CRYPTO: ZEC
Key Data Points
These coins are never getting any easier to mine
Both Bitcoin and Zcash have their total supply capped at 21 million coins.
It isn't possible for any government or individual or group of people to print more of either asset. And, because both of these coins use a proof-of-work (PoW) model, with built-in halvings that make it harder and harder to produce new coins over time, neither coin is going to be in significantly greater supply in the future compared to today. That dynamic makes them scarce assets, albeit not exactly the same kind of scarcity as enjoyed by metals that need to be mined from the earth, refined, and shipped before they can be used.
Of course, Bitcoin and Zcash aren't the only cryptocurrencies that are scarce. Nor is their scarcity any guarantee of their price remaining static in the face of selling pressure or a loss of investor confidence in their value. And both are typically more volatile than precious metals, the recent flap of interest in the latter notwithstanding.
Nonetheless, if precious metals are flying because investors crave assets outside the traditional system, you can see why these coins could benefit. Bitcoin isn't exactly gold, but as long as people agree it has value, its supply policy will ensure its price will never be $0. Similarly, Zcash is a bet for people who think financial privacy will prove more valuable over time, creating the demand for it as a Bitcoin-like private store of value.
So is the precious metals boom a reason to load up on Bitcoin and Zcash?
Not exactly; it's more like a set of signals that tell investors that scarce stores of value are hot, probably portending good times ahead for these crypto assets. Adding a bit to your positions in those two is still a decent idea, but the more important thing is to be ready to hold them for the long term. That's the period in which their investment theses will have time to deliver you the most value, regardless of what they do over the next 12 months.
