Changpeng Zhao, the former chief executive of Binance, told attendees at Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong that Bitcoin could surpass gold’s market capitalization in the next major bull cycle, arguing that the gap between the two assets reflects legacy reserve systems more than Bitcoin’s long-term potential.
Zhao said gold’s market value remains roughly 10 times larger than Bitcoin’s, leaving a substantial distance for the cryptocurrency to cover even after its recent rally. Bitcoin traded near $79,700 on Thursday, while gold had moved above $4,600, according to pricing data cited during the discussion.
His forecast rests on the idea that sovereign reserve managers could gradually assign a larger role to digital assets. Zhao said Bitcoin could account for more than half of strategic cryptocurrency holdings held by governments and major institutions, alongside assets including Ethereum and BNB.
The comparison with gold places Bitcoin’s next growth phase in a much larger contest than competition among cryptocurrencies. Gold has centuries of institutional use behind it, deep integration with central-bank reserves and a physical custody infrastructure built around governments, banks and bullion markets. Bitcoin’s supporters argue that its fixed supply, global transferability and digital-native design could make it increasingly attractive as reserve managers look beyond traditional stores of value.
Reserve allocations remain the critical test
A move from private-sector adoption to sovereign-scale holdings would require more than rising prices. National reserve managers must address custody, liquidity, accounting standards, legal mandates and political scrutiny before adding volatile digital assets in meaningful size.
Zhao pointed to changing attitudes toward strategic crypto holdings, though the scale of direct government ownership remains difficult to measure because many public entities disclose holdings only periodically or through listed products and fund portfolios.
The supplied figures cite Norway’s national pension fund as having indirect exposure to 11,549 Bitcoin, valued at about $725 million by the middle of the year. Such exposure would generally differ from a central bank or sovereign wealth fund directly buying and holding Bitcoin: a pension fund can gain indirect economic exposure through equity stakes, funds or other securities without treating Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
The article also cites $764 million in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products held by wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates. Exchange-traded products may provide institutions with a regulated route to price exposure without managing private keys or setting up their own digital-asset custody operations. They also leave fund managers exposed to the structure, fees and market liquidity of the product rather than to coins held directly on-chain.
Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, has previously described growing institutional interest in Bitcoin-related products. Zhao’s argument extends that trend into a more demanding area: whether public institutions would treat Bitcoin as a strategic reserve holding rather than a tactical financial allocation.
Bitcoin and gold rose together
Zhao’s comments came after gains in both Bitcoin and gold over the previous week. Bitcoin had climbed more than 25%, while gold rose above $4,600, according to the supplied market data.
The simultaneous advance complicates the familiar framing of Bitcoin as a straightforward replacement for gold. Both assets can benefit when traders seek alternatives to government currencies or adjust portfolios for concerns around monetary policy, geopolitical risk and fiscal pressures. Gold retains lower day-to-day volatility and far deeper use in official reserves, while Bitcoin offers a digitally transferable asset with a transparent issuance schedule.
Bitcoin’s price was listed at $79,489.50 in a separate feed, up 1.18% over 24 hours. Ethereum traded at $2,502.14, up 0.83%, while Solana rose 6.88% to $103.94 and Chainlink gained 3.53% to $11.75. PYTH was listed unchanged at $0.0485.
Those short-term moves offer little evidence by themselves that Bitcoin is closing the structural gap with gold. A sustained shift would be more visible in public reserve disclosures, institutional mandates, custody arrangements and the growth of regulated investment vehicles used by state-linked funds.
Zhao sees stablecoins as AI’s first crypto use case
Zhao also connected the cryptocurrency market to artificial intelligence, saying stablecoins could become the first major bridge between autonomous software and blockchain-based finance.
He expects AI-assisted trading to develop before AI-driven consumer payments. Trading systems operate in an environment where rapid interpretation of market data and execution can create a direct financial advantage, while consumer payments still depend heavily on card networks, merchant systems, fraud controls and established banking relationships.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a value tied to a reference asset, usually the US dollar. They can move on public blockchains at any time, which makes them suitable for automated settlement between software systems if users, platforms and payment providers accept the necessary compliance and operational controls.
The supplied data says AI agents processed 8.7 million stablecoin transfers in one week and that USDC accounted for 99% of those machine-driven payments. It also places total stablecoin market capitalization at $308 billion and adjusted monthly settlement volume at a record $1.79 trillion.
Even if automated activity expands quickly, transaction counts should be read carefully. Blockchain transfers can represent trading operations, internal treasury movements, payment settlement or repeated automated tasks, rather than distinct consumer purchases. The useful measure will be whether autonomous systems begin paying for data, computing, services and financial execution across multiple networks at durable scale.
Zhao’s remarks bring those two themes together: Bitcoin as a possible reserve asset for institutions, and stablecoins as operating money for software. The first depends on cautious decisions by governments and large funds; the second depends on whether automated systems can use on-chain dollars cheaply, securely and within financial rules.
Explore how BTC compares with traditional safe havens in our guide Gold vs Bitcoin before the next bull cycle.
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