Shelter switcheroo
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 25th March 2026.
The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.
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What’s up
Bitcoin, Gold Swap Roles
Since the war in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, the price of gold has plunged 15% to $4,407.37 per ounce, while digital gold — also known as Bitcoin — has risen roughly 10%. It’s a most curious safe haven swap to say the least.
As of Wednesday at 7 a.m. (EST), BTC neared $71,600 after a slight gain (+0.4%). The biggest coin’s strength in a tumultuous time has been noteworthy, reflecting at least in part a recognition of its limited supply (there’ll only ever be a maximum of 21 million coins), as well as a nod to its relative oversold status of late.
Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28, BTC fell by 25% versus a 20% rise for gold during that same period, which for precious metals, especially silver, felt more like a kind of a speculative bubble as opposed to an inflation or dollar debasement hedge.
Last week, as investors fretted conflict escalation and a 1970s-like oil shock, the digital gold narrative seemed to find an audience in the ETF space. One of the biggest per-troy-ounce-tracking funds, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), saw an outflow of $2.2 billion between March 16-20. At the same time, U.S. spot BTC ETFs collectively saw a modest net inflow of $95 million. BTC ETFs have seen a total net inflow of $2.5B this month.
Bitcoin advocates call it “gold 2.0” due to its scarcity, although old-school gold bugs have flatly dismissed such assertions. “However,” as The Street noted today, “recent trends suggest a role reversal.”
What's down
Oil Markets Get De-Escalation Memo
Oil prices fell following a New York Times report of a proposed multi-pronged plan to pause the war put forth by the U.S. to Iranian officials by way of Pakistan. The Islamic Republic via state TV continues to vehemently deny being involved in any direct talks with the U.S.
Brent crude futures as of earlier today were down 5% to $99.30 per barrel. Stocks and cryptos, including Bitcoin as well as Ethereum, turned green.
Underscoring the heightened uncertainty facing investors, Goldman Sachs’ co-head of global commodities research, Daan Struyven, said crude oil is effectively trading on a geopolitical risk premium that's short-term in nature with moves driven by "shifts in the perceived probability of worst-case scenarios."
The bank’s base case: crude oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz should normalize over the course of the month of April (CNBC).
What's next
Stellar Looks To Sustain Newfound Mojo
Since reaching 50 cents this past summer, Stellar (XLM) has steadily declined to roughly 15 cents as of early March. For some unclear reason, the token’s spot price has just in the past day jumped 7% to nearly 18 cents.
Rising social media attention around Stellar’s various payments-centric partnerships, along with its growing role in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, appears to be a part of what’s driving renewed interest, Coinpedia said.
Recent data shows that Stellar’s daily active users have surged to nearly 114,000, versus its typical range of 60,000 to 80,000 users, Coinpedia added.
Examining XLM technicals and derivatives data (showing open interest is rising), FX Street pointed toward the possibility of a “rally continuation, as momentum indicators show bullish strength gaining traction.”
