Analysis: Bitcoin gains second to gold in 2025, but its long-term returns lead all major asset classes

Bitcoin has risen 25% so far in 2025, second only to gold's 29.3% gain among major asset classes.
Data shared by financial strategist Charlie Bilello shows that other major asset classes are performing relatively modestly in 2025: emerging market equities (VWO) are up 15.6%, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is up 12.7%, and U.S. large-cap stocks (SPY) are up 9.4%, while U.S. mid-cap stocks (MDY) and small-cap stocks (IWM) are up just 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively. This is the first time on record that gold and bitcoin have both held the top two positions in the annual asset class rankings.
Over the long term, Bitcoin's cumulative return since 2011 has reached a staggering 38,897,420%, far outperforming all other asset classes. Gold's cumulative return over the same period was 126%, putting it in the midstream, behind the Nasdaq 100 (1,101%), US large-cap stocks (559%), mid-cap stocks (316%), and small-cap stocks (244%).
According to Bilello's data, Bitcoin's total return has exceeded that of gold by more than 308,000 times over the past 14 years.
In terms of annualized returns, Bitcoin has averaged an annualized return of 141.7% since 2011, compared to 5.7% for gold, 18.6% for the Nasdaq 100, and 13.8% for U.S. large-cap stocks.