Gold price reaches record high; bitcoin surpasses $41,000

By Lee Kyung-min

Gold and bitcoin are rallying on the back of investor preference for safe assets, coupled with expectations for a rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, according to market watchers, Tuesday.

The international gold price exceeded $2,100 (2.7 million won) per ounce on Dec. 3 (local time), an all-time high that came only days after the previous high of $2,075.09, Dec. 1.

Bitcoin’s price exceeded 55 million won, Tuesday, in less than half a day after surpassing 53 million won. It rose 11 percent in the first five days of December.

Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the world’s bestseller “Rich Dad and Poor Dad” recently recommended the purchase of the two assets.

The U.S. economy faces a depression and the risk of war, and millions of people will have a hard time in the future, he said online. “We need to hedge against inflation through gold, silver and bitcoin,” he said.

In October, Kiyosaki said the price of gold would soon reach $2,100, before rallying further to $3,700 soon.

In August, he predicted that bitcoin would reach $100,000, considering the “geopolitical issues threatening global prosperity.”

Daishin Securities researcher Choi Jin-young said the U.S. interest rate cut’s postponement, as implied on the FOMC dot plot, would push up the gold price to $2,150 per ounce in the second half of next year.

“Gold is more positive for risk hedging. The poor performance of the U.S. job market will fuel the recession woes. This is why safe assets will be more attractive over the next few quarters.”

Shinhan Investment & Securities researcher Lim Hwan-yeol said gold prices are expected to exceed $2,000 per ounce.

“Interest rates are expected to continue to decline ahead of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee in December,” he said. “Factors of slowdown in the economy remain. The easing of geopolitical issues will limit the extent of the price increase.”

Galaxy Digital CEO Michael Novogratz said in a recent interview with Bloomberg that bitcoin will peak next year as billions of dollars flow in, prompted by the launch of the digital asset’s spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). “The Fed will support this by cutting interest rates,” he said.

Markus Thielen, head of Research & Strategy at Matrixport, a one-stop digital assets financial services platform, said the only year that bitcoin prices declined after the January effect signal was triggered was in 2014 when prices made a bull market peak.

“The driver of the 2023 bull market could easily be the expected March 2024 bitcoin halving cycle, which has tended to be very bullish for crypto prices,” he said in a report. “Hence, there is a high statistical probability that bitcoin prices could double from here until year-end, bringing the prices to $45,000 by Christmas 2023.”