Bitcoin vs Gold: Michael Saylor predicts Bitcoin will surpass gold by 2035, the reason is?

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor predicted in an interview with Yahoo Finance that Bitcoin will surpass gold in market capitalization by 2035, at which point 99% of Bitcoin will have been mined, entering the “0.99 era.” This prediction is based on Bitcoin's fixed supply, digital characteristics, and the increasing institutional adoption, echoing CZ's views. Both believe that Bitcoin's scarcity value will drive it to become a superior store of value compared to gold, and this assertion will be put to the test in the gold and Bitcoin debate at the Dubai Blockchain Week in December 2025.

Bitcoin Scarcity Model and the Turning Point in 2035

The “0.99 Era” concept proposed by Saylor is based on the mathematical certainty of the Bitcoin issuance schedule. By 2035, the Bitcoin network will have produced approximately 21.79 million BTC, accounting for 99% of the total supply of 21 million, leaving only 210,000 left to be mined. This pre-set scarcity stands in stark contrast to the continuous supply growth of gold at 1.5-2% per year, providing structural support for the appreciation of Bitcoin's value.

According to the stock-to-flow model analysis, Bitcoin's SF ratio will exceed that of gold by 2035, which is a key indicator driving the prices of store of value assets. Gold's high SF ratio stems from the enormous gap between its above-ground stock and annual new production, while Bitcoin achieves similar scarcity characteristics through its algorithm and possesses the advantages of verifiability and immutability. Saylor emphasizes: “Bitcoin's digital characteristics far surpass those of physical gold in terms of transfer and storage efficiency, which is the inevitable evolution of the next generation of store of value.”

Analysis of Bitcoin Market Scale Comparison and Growth Path

The current market capitalization of Bitcoin is approximately $1.98 trillion, while the total market capitalization of gold is estimated to be between $12-14 trillion. To achieve Saylor's prediction, Bitcoin needs to rise about 6 times in the next decade, with an average annual compound growth rate of about 20%. This goal seems ambitious, but historical data shows that Bitcoin has had an average annual compound growth rate of over 45% in the past decade. Although future growth may slow down, the trajectory still supports the possibility of surpassing gold.

Institutional adoption is the core driving force behind this transformation. Traditional asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity have held over $150 billion in Bitcoin through spot ETFs, while the allocation scale of publicly listed companies has exceeded $30 billion. In contrast, institutional gold holdings are mainly through ETFs and the futures market, with a total scale of about $200 billion. If this trend of capital flow continues, the prediction that Bitcoin will surpass gold in market capitalization before 2035 has a reasonable basis.

Comparison of Key Indicators Between Bitcoin and Gold

• Current market capitalization: Bitcoin $1.98 trillion vs Gold $13 trillion
• Annual supply rise: Bitcoin 1.7% (decreasing) vs Gold 1.8% (stable)
• Institutional Holdings: Bitcoin $180 billion+ vs Gold $200 billion+
• 2035 supply: 99% of Bitcoin has been mined vs gold reserves continue to rise
• Cost of value transfer: Bitcoin is almost zero vs gold storage and transportation is expensive

Competitive Advantages of Digital Store of Value

The core advantage of Bitcoin compared to gold lies in its purely digital characteristics. Saylor points out that the ultimate form of a store of value asset should have features such as easy verification, easy transfer, easy storage, and protection against confiscation, and Bitcoin excels in these dimensions compared to physical gold. Transferring $10 billion worth of gold across borders requires complex logistics and insurance arrangements, while Bitcoin can be completed instantly on-chain, with costs that are almost negligible.

From a security perspective, Bitcoin's distributed ledger technology provides mathematically guaranteed scarcity and ownership verification, while gold relies on physical custody and traditional certification systems. As the digital native generation becomes the main investment body, their inherent preference for digital store of value methods will accelerate this transformation. Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale, stated: “Millennials and Generation Z see Bitcoin as a more reasonable store of value tool, and this intergenerational wealth transfer is an advantage that gold finds difficult to replicate.”

The Rebuttal of Gold Supporters and the Upcoming Debate

Well-known gold advocate Peter Schiff strongly opposes the predictions of Saylor and CZ, arguing that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic value and is too volatile to serve as a store of value. Recently, Schiff challenged CZ to a direct debate, and Binance has announced that it will hold a themed debate on “Bitcoin vs Tokenized Gold” during the Dubai Blockchain Week in December 2025.

Schiff's main arguments include: the high volatility of Bitcoin prices is detrimental to its store of value, energy consumption is not environmentally friendly, and regulatory risks persist. In contrast, gold has been validated over thousands of years and is a core component of central bank foreign exchange reserves, with its physical properties giving it industrial and practical application value. This debate will be a direct confrontation between the cryptocurrency and traditional precious metals camps, and the outcome may influence asset allocation decisions of many onlooking investors.

The Historical Divisions of Bitcoin's Store of Value Evolution

The upcoming debate between Saylor and Schiff is not only a clash of opinions from two prominent figures but also a historic collision of two paradigms of store of value. When digital scarcity meets physical scarcity at the critical juncture of 2035, they represent not only a divergence in investment choices but also a choice in the evolution of human value storage methods. Bitcoin has established a trust foundation in fifteen years that took gold thousands of years to build. This accelerated evolution showcases the power of technological revolution while also sowing the seeds of a cognitive divide. Regardless of which asset ultimately prevails, this debate itself marks the entry of the field of store of value into a whole new era—a new epoch where code coexists with metal and algorithms compete with tradition.