Bitcoin will hardly become an alternative to gold in the near future, largely as a result of its monopolized market, according to a former deputy head of the Bank of Russia.
The financial expert believes, however, that the cryptocurrency is going to appreciate against major fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar due to its fixed supply, which protects it from inflation.
Bitcoin will not substitute gold due to crypto whales
Bitcoin (BTC) is unlikely to displace gold or become a full-fledged alternative in the coming years because of the highly monopolized crypto market.
That’s according to Oleg Vyugin, a prominent Russian economist, former deputy minister of finance and deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).
Speaking for the popular YouTube channel of Russian blogger Alexander Sokolovsky this week, Vyugin assessed the prospects for the leading cryptocurrency.
Theoretically, Bitcoin’s market capitalization could potentially approach that of the precious metal, the expert estimated.
However, the digital coin’s strong dependence on the behavior of large holders and significant market manipulation makes it extremely unstable and difficult to predict. This, Vyugin emphasized, limits Bitcoin’s potential as a safe-haven asset.
At the same time, the financier highlighted some of the crypto’s advantages over fiat currencies in the interview, quoted by Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru and other Russian news outlets.
He remarked, for example, that its limited supply is fixed at a “programmatic level” and is not subject to inflationary erosion, noting that Bitcoin-denominated assets retain their intrinsic value over time.
Vyugin, who is a professor at Russia’s Higher School of Economics (HSE) national research university in Moscow, supposed that the prices of a given stock expressed in BTC in early 2026 and five years later will be comparable.
This means that the rise in the cryptocurrency’s price would increase investor returns in dollar terms without a change in the fundamental value of the asset itself, he elaborated.
With that in mind, the former high-ranking Russian official believes in the long-term appreciation of Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar.
