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Institutional money has been pouring into Bitcoin at a scale that would have seemed far-fetched just a few years ago. Since the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, roughly $56 billion has flowed in from asset managers around the world — a shift that Bitmine CEO Tom Lee says is changing how serious investors think about protecting wealth.
Gold’s Track Record Under Scrutiny
Speaking at the Futu Investment Exhibition, Lee made a pointed case against gold’s long-held reputation as the go-to inflation shield. Historical data, he said, shows gold has failed to keep pace with inflation about 48% of the time over the past 55 years.
That’s a striking number for an asset millions of investors hold precisely because they believe it protects purchasing power. Gold prices have also taken a hit recently, dropping over 15% in the past week to trade around $4,493.
Bitmine CEO：Bitcoin Beats Inflation 97% of the Time, Far Outperforming Gold
Bitmine CEO Tom Lee stated the crypto winter is ending at the Futu Investment Exhibition. He believes Bitcoin is a better inflation hedge than gold, outperforming inflation 97% of the time since its… pic.twitter.com/H5LfaePnRe
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 27, 2026
Bitcoin, by contrast, has outperformed inflation 97% of the time since its creation in 2009, according to Lee. He pointed to the asset’s hard cap of 21 million coins as a key reason why.
Supply cannot be expanded. No central bank can print more of it. That fixed ceiling, combined with rising demand from institutions, is what Lee says makes Bitcoin a stronger modern hedge than gold.
“Many investors hold large amounts of gold for protection, but may be missing exposure to Bitcoin,” Lee said.
Wall Street’s Growing Appetite
The ETF numbers back up at least part of that argument. Billions of dollars have moved into Bitcoin-focused funds as major asset managers add the cryptocurrency to client portfolios.
Reports indicate this trend has pushed Bitcoin further from its early reputation as a speculative bet and closer toward a mainstream financial instrument — the kind typically compared to commodities like gold or oil.
Bitcoin was trading near $66,000 at the time of Lee’s remarks, though the price had slipped about 3.35% in the preceding 24 hours.
Ethereum Gets A Mention
Lee’s presentation didn’t stop at Bitcoin. He also flagged Ethereum as a potential infrastructure layer for Wall Street’s future, saying the blockchain could be used for tokenization, settlement, and broader financial operations.
Reports note that Lee sees growing connections between crypto networks and traditional finance — particularly as institutions look for faster, programmable ways to move and settle assets.
Whether that vision plays out remains to be seen. But the flow of institutional capital into Bitcoin ETFs suggests that at least part of Wall Street is no longer treating crypto as an afterthought.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
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