Analysis of Bitcoin and Gold as Stores of Value in the Context of Recent Global Events

Abstract

This thesis examines Bitcoin's potential as a store of value, focusing on devel- opments up to February 2025. It finds weak cointegration and low correlation between Bitcoin and gold, challenging the view of Bitcoin as a reliable store of value. Instead, Bitcoin shows strong similarities to stock market indices in both price and return trends, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest Bitcoin behaves more like a risky asset than digital gold. The analysis employs Cointegration and DCC-GARCH methods, re- vealing that emerging parallels between gold and Bitcoin are likely anomalies, making state-level adoption as a reserve asset premature. 1