Scanning the Bitcoin news today, and everyone is suddenly obsessed with the “debasement trade.” It’s the new watchword for anyone looking to protect their wealth from the slow drip of fiat decay.
When JPMorgan, the world’s biggest TradFi institution, starts linking Bitcoin and gold as the tandem “debasement trade,” the narrative is changing fast.
What Is the Debasement Trade?
JPMorgan analysts recently declared that Bitcoin is undervalued compared with gold and punched out a year-end BTC price target of $165,000.
The logic isn’t complicated: both Bitcoin and gold have proven to be lifeboats when fiat currencies start melting.
Central banks continue to run trillion-dollar deficits and cut rates into sticky inflation, which means holding cash or bonds is a mug’s game.
Here, “debasement trade” simply means stacking assets with hard limits like digital scarcity, open ledgers, and anti-inflation DNA in the face of fiat decline.
JPMorgan calls it a mechanical exercise. As gold launches higher, Bitcoin gets more attractive on a risk-adjusted basis.
With gold now above $3,900 and BTC’s volatility ratio dropping to all-time lows, it’s the institutions, not just retail, moving into Bitcoin and the crypto market as hedges against the failing fiat system.
Bitcoin News: Everything Is Losing Ground to BTC
It’s easy to get lost in the S&P’s epic runs and the illusion of “stock market prosperity.”
But the US stock market is up roughly 9% over the past year, while the dollar itself is down more than 10% against a basket of hard assets.
Gold’s up 45% year-to-date, which would feel bullish, if not for Bitcoin’s relentless surge now creeping past $125,000 and making everything else look cheap.
When measured in Bitcoin, the numbers are brutal:
The S&P 500’s performance in BTC terms? Deep red for years, with most blue-chip stocks losing value compared to Bitcoin.
Even gold itself, over three years, is up 132%, while Bitcoin returned over 514%. Macro analyst and Bitcoin proponent Luke Gromen pointed out how the debasement trade has gone since COVID:
“In USD: NDX up 165%, SPX up 102%, Home prices up 56%. In gold: NDX up 7%, SPX down 18%, Home prices down 37%. In BTC: NDX down 78%, SPX down 84%, Home prices down 87%.”
The dollar’s purchasing power has been decimated, as even the supposed “winners” in TradFi often lose ground when stacked against satoshis.
JPMorgan’s thesis about the crypto market isn’t about speculation; it’s about defending purchasing power in a world where currency debasement is now policy, not accident.
Bitcoin News: Why TradFi’s Getting on Board
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan called “debasement” the word of 2026. Hougan’s thesis is simple: as monetary policy bakes stimulus into every downturn and the Fed signals rate cuts into persistent deficits, the old rules are broken.
If you haven’t heard the latest Bitcoin news, asset protection isn’t about blue-chip stocks anymore. It’s about securing exposure to the hardest collateral money can buy.
Wall Street’s still treating Bitcoin and the crypto market as a “risk asset,” lumping it in with tech stocks for comfort, but price action is telling a different story.
Michael Saylor, whose MicroStrategy playbook kicked off the corporate Bitcoin wave, has repeatedly urged business leaders to escape USD debasement by moving treasury balances into BTC.
“We call it saving our money,” he simply wrote while his company amassed over 640,000 BTC and turned balance sheet management into a macro hedge fund.
The New Global Scoreboard
Gold and Bitcoin are the only honest scorekeepers left in an environment where the denominator (USD, EUR, JPY) is melting and policymakers seem intent on printing their way to prosperity.
The “risk asset” meme is losing its grip with every new ETF inflow, and with gold and Bitcoin charging as the two pillars of the debasement trade, the smart money sees a regime shift happening in real time.
JPMorgan’s clients aren’t in it for the Lambo; they’re in it for protection. When the world’s biggest bank starts signaling to clients that stacking Bitcoin and gold is the only way to keep score in this new era, it’s worth listening. As Matt Hougan said, debasement is set to be the watchword for 2026.