As gold 's price hit a new historic high of $4,750 per ounce on Jan. 20, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) fell to 98.52 on the day—its worst point since Jan. 6.
The DXY is an index that calculates the value of the USD relative to a basket of foreign currencies.
Related: Billionaire warns Greenland episode shatters Bitcoin myth
The index's decline is an indication of dollar devaluation , which Dogecoin (DOGE) co-founder Billy Markus mocked amid a gold rally.
Founded in 2013, Dogecoin is a meme coin that began as a mockery of the first decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), as the latter attempted to challenge Wall Street's financial dominance in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis.
Over time, DOGE earned praise from Elon Musk and turned out to be the world's ninth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin, meanwhile, remains the leading cryptocurrency.
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Dollar devaluation, gold rally, and Bitcoin slump amid geopolitical tensions
As far as dollar devaluation is concerned, it is generally considered good news for assets like gold and Bitcoin.
As people lose trust in the world's most widely used fiat currency, they tend to flock to these assets because they are considered hedge assets in the face of dollar devaluation.
Gold has been viewed as the ultimate safe haven asset for long in times of geopolitical uncertainty.
President Donald Trump's ongoing tariff war —the latest trigger being the Greenland crisis, his threat to the independence of the Federal Reserve , and the soaring federal debt of $38.45 trillion are among the primary factors that have given rise to a geopolitical uncertainty in which the bullion seems to be offering a sense of security to holders.
Traded heavily across the world, gold is considered a reliable high-value asset. The precious metal has witnessed a historic price rally over the past few months.
In fact, gold's price has seen an appreciation of 17% over the last three months.
However, any such narrative seems to be losing pace for Bitcoin as its price has declined by roughly 17% during the same period.
Canadian billionaire and gold financier Frank Giustra thinks the recent price action has shattered the notion widely popular among Bitcoin maximalists that the cryptocurrency is a "digital gold."
Gold is a safe haven, and Bitcoin is a risk-on asset, he proclaimed.
However, it should be noted that gold carries a history of thousands of years and it's been only 17 years since Bitcoin's launch.
BTC was exchanging hands at $90,843.49 at the time of writing, 28% lower than the record high price of $126,080 it hit in early October last year.
Related: Crypto stocks dump as Treasury Secretary warns of April 2 tariffs
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
