Bitcoin Price Struggles While Whales Shift to Tokenized Gold

The Bitcoin price is currently struggling to maintain its momentum, highlighting a growing sense of caution across the crypto market. Amid growing geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic conditions, and a weakening dollar, investors are looking for better investment opportunities like tokenized gold, further worsening the crypto market volatility.
Large crypto holders or whales are preparing for a different scenario, moving away from Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Recent reports indicate they are investing largely in tokenized gold rather than BTC. This points out that tokenized gold is emerging as a preferred hedge while Bitcoin struggles to reclaim momentum.
Why Whales Prefer Tokenized Gold over Bitcoin
Reportedly, crypto whales are increasingly favouring tokenized gold due to its stability compared to volatile assets like Bitcoin. As cryptocurrencies like BTC continue to decline amid geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic conditions, investors are attracted towards gold-backed tokens like XAUT and PAXG.
As highlighted by on-chain analyst Lookonchain, large crypto investors, also known as whales, are increasing their exposure to tokenized gold. The Lookonchain data shows substantial amounts of gold-backed tokens being moved off major exchanges. This suggests that whales are positioning for longer-term stability rather than short-term trading.
A whale identified as 0xbe4C withdrew nearly 1,960 XUAT worth about $9.97 million from Bybit and Gate. Another whale pulled 559 XAUT valued at around $2.83 million from MEXC. A third crypto whale moved a mix of gold-backed tokens. They withdrew around $993k worth of XAUT and $538K in PAXG. Such large withdrawals often signal growing confidence in gold-backed tokens.
This recent hype around tokenized gold also unveils a wider trend in the crypto market. Assets like XAUT and PAXG sit at the intersection of traditional finance and crypto. These tokens give investors exposure to physical gold while staying on blockchain rails. As BTC continues to swing unpredictably, whales appear to be shifting from risky assets to the safe-haven metal.
This sudden shift could be seen as a response to the geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Middle East conflicts, and the US-China competition. Other factors contributing to the shift include the uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision tomorrow and the declining dominance of the dollar. As the Fed is predicted to hold its interest rates unchanged, the crypto market is gearing up for another volatile journey.
These developments have significantly impacted investors, who now look for safer investment options like gold and silver. This has caught the crypto whales’ attention to tokenized gold.
Gold vs Bitcoin: XAU Rises While BTC Falls
Amid growing tensions and uncertainty, gold is making a massive rally, with its price hitting a record level on Monday. Gold has recently surged past $5k, now sitting at 5,082.58, marking a massive surge of 756% surge over the past 30 days. While the metal has seen a remarkable hike of 1,700% over the past six months, it has soared by a more notable 2,300% in a year.
At the same time, Bitcoin is currently struggling below the critical $90k support level. As of press time, it is valued at $87,898, marking a marginal 0.2% surge in 24 hours. Despite a 0.8% decline over the past month, the crypto is still down by 3.38% in a week.