Claims have resurfaced that it is hard to view bitcoin as a safe-haven asset like gold or as a store of value. With bitcoin recently underperforming gold and other precious metals, doubts are also emerging over assessments that it serves as a hedge against declines in currency value.

On Aug. 9 local time, blockchain media outlet U.Today reported that Robin Brooks (로빈 브룩스), a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, recently argued that bitcoin was not included in so-called currency-debasement trades.

Brooks said on X, formerly Twitter, that bitcoin has consistently underperformed precious metals recently. "Bitcoin is not a safe-haven asset or store of value in the way gold is," he said. He said whether it is a safe haven could depend on market perceptions, but recent price action is enough to cast doubt on bitcoin's safe-haven character.

He has previously expressed negative views on bitcoin. In March 2023, he described bitcoin as a bubble asset and argued that prices could plunge if U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate hikes gathered pace. At the time, he said bitcoin had neither a store-of-value function nor a diversification effect.

Later that year, he also called bitcoin a "useless asset" and argued that much of its rise depends on expectations about the Fed's monetary policy. He assessed bitcoin as closer to another futures contract on Fed policy, and also offered the view that investors would be better off trading Fed futures directly.

In contrast, some in the market argue that bitcoin's safe-haven potential should not be judged solely by price action. Jeff Park (제프 파크), head of alpha strategies at Bitwise, focused on bitcoin's strength during past periods of different types of yield-curve steepening. He cited March 2020, February 2021, March 2023, September to October 2023 and September 2024 as examples.

Park argued that given bitcoin's tendency to strengthen with changes in the interest-rate structure, it could be incorporated not only into currency-debasement trades but also into de-dollarisation trades. That means it is hard to deny bitcoin's store-of-value function simply because it did not move in the same direction as gold.

The debate has flared again as gold prices have recently been strong. Brooks said gold prices have risen about 10 percent over the past 10 days, stressing the relative strength of precious metals. Park countered that rather than comparing short-term price moves of gold and bitcoin, it is necessary to examine bitcoin's response along with changes in the interest-rate structure and the macro environment.

Ultimately, the core of the debate is whether bitcoin can be seen as a traditional safe-haven asset like gold. Expectations are growing that bitcoin is becoming established as a hedge against declines in currency value, but it has also repeatedly moved like a risk asset depending on market conditions.

Going forward, which price correlations bitcoin shows amid interest-rate changes, currency-value declines and de-dollarisation trends is expected to be a key criterion in judging the safe-haven debate.