By Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao believes Bitcoin could surpass gold in market value during the next major cryptocurrency bull cycle, making one of his strongest predictions yet about Bitcoin’s eventual role as a global reserve asset. Speaking at Bitcoin Asia 2026 in Hong Kong on August 27, Zhao said he expects Bitcoin to become more important than gold as governments and investors increasingly adopt digital assets.
“I think Bitcoin will, for sure, become more important than gold,” Zhao said during a session titled “The Bitcoin Century.” Zhao acknowledged that the transition will take time because countries have spent decades building infrastructure around gold, including systems for custody, valuation, reserves and trading. But he argued that Bitcoin’s advantages as a digital, transferable and globally accessible scarce asset could eventually allow it to challenge gold’s monetary role.
Closing the Gap Would Require Enormous Bitcoin Growth
Zhao described gold as having a market value roughly 10 times Bitcoin’s, although current estimates vary significantly depending on the methodology used to value the global above-ground gold stock. The gap remains substantial. Bitcoin traded around $79,700 when Zhao made his comments, giving the cryptocurrency a market capitalization of approximately $1.6 trillion. Gold estimates are considerably higher, meaning Bitcoin would require a multiple-fold increase — while gold remained relatively stable — to actually overtake it. Zhao nevertheless believes the transition could happen faster than many investors expect.
He has separately predicted Bitcoin could eventually reach $1 million, although he did not attach that target to the next bull cycle or provide a specific date. At approximately 21 million Bitcoin, a $1 million price would correspond to a theoretical fully diluted value near $21 trillion. Bitcoin’s recent performance has strengthened the broader “digital gold” narrative. The cryptocurrency surged more than 25% during the week before Zhao’s appearance as concerns about currency debasement, government debt and U.S. Treasury intervention pushed investors toward scarce assets. Bitcoin crossed $80,000 on August 25, while gold simultaneously climbed above $4,600 per ounce.
Sovereign Reserves Could Become the Next Battleground
Zhao’s argument extends beyond Bitcoin’s price. He expects governments to gradually add cryptocurrencies to strategic reserves as regulatory and custody infrastructure improves. For countries constructing crypto reserves, Zhao suggested using the largest non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies weighted broadly by market capitalization. Such a portfolio would allocate more than half to Bitcoin, with approximately 10% to 20% potentially going to Ethereum and smaller allocations to other major assets, including BNB. That differs from a Bitcoin-only reserve strategy and reflects Zhao’s expectation that governments will eventually hold diversified digital-asset portfolios. The prediction comes as institutional access to Bitcoin has expanded substantially through spot ETFs, regulated custody and corporate treasury strategies.
Bitcoin’s fixed supply also contrasts with gold, whose available stock increases through mining each year. But overtaking gold remains an exceptionally demanding benchmark. Gold has thousands of years of monetary history, deep central-bank ownership, established global markets and significant non-investment demand from jewellery and industry. Central banks collectively hold tens of thousands of tonnes as reserve assets. Bitcoin remains considerably more volatile and has only existed since 2009. Zhao therefore framed sovereign adoption as a multi-year process rather than an immediate migration.
His prediction also remains an opinion rather than a valuation model. He did not provide a mathematical forecast showing when Bitcoin’s capitalization would exceed gold’s or what price gold would have at that point.The comparison nevertheless illustrates how Bitcoin’s investment thesis is changing. For much of its history, Bitcoin was judged primarily against other cryptocurrencies. Increasingly, institutional investors are comparing it with gold as an alternative scarce asset outside the traditional fiat system. Zhao is betting that the competition eventually ends with Bitcoin on top. If that happens as early as the next bull market, however, Bitcoin would need to undergo an extraordinary repricing — potentially adding tens of trillions of dollars in market value depending on where gold trades at the time.