On this Friday the 13th, Peter Schiff declared it is a “lucky” day for gold investors as the precious metal trades at a new all-time high of $2,600. Bitcoin (BTC) investors, though, in Schiff’s view, are “out of luck,” as are all Americans in general, says the banker and financial expert.

In his view, record-high gold prices are not just a reflection of market trends. They signal something more concerning, like higher inflation, unemployment, rising long-term interest rates and maybe even a recession on the horizon.

While many are looking forward to the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, which some think will give gold’s ongoing rally a boost, history shows that gold often does well in periods of monetary change.

For example, in September 2007, the Fed cut rates for the first time in four years after holding them steady at 5.25%. This led to a 45% surge in gold prices over the subsequent six months.

Bitcoin and gold as of 2024

Now, with the Federal Reserve expected to lower rates once again, maybe not immediately though, it is the anticipation of such shifts that tends to drive gold prices upward. One can draw comparisons with July 2019, when the Fed cut rates for the first time in 11 years – gold’s value surged by 26.35% over the next year.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, while seen by some as gold 2.0, has yet to emerge as such a safe haven in the eyes of the majority of market participants; while it is still seen as the digital gold due to its deflationary nature and scarcity, cryptocurrency as a whole is seen as beta to tech stocks and the riskiest assets.

That is why the performance of the NASDAQ may be more important to BTC than the precious metal right now, and why neither tech stocks nor digital assets are guaranteed against a free fall in a recession.