CZ Says Bitcoin (BTC) Can Overtake Gold Next Bull Run, Eyes $697,000 Price

CZ’s Gold-Flip Call at Bitcoin Asia

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — known across the industry as CZ — said Bitcoin (BTC) could overtake gold in total market value during the next bull run, sizing the current gap at only about tenfold. Speaking in a fireside chat at the Bitcoin Asia conference, Zhao argued that gold’s real advantage is not the metal itself but the mature custody, valuation and reserve systems that nations have built around it over decades. If Bitcoin gradually becomes a strategic reserve asset for countries, he said, its ultimate importance will likely match and eventually surpass the yellow metal. Remarks from the session circulated via a September 7 post on X. Zhao added that re-allocating the reserves of a major economy typically takes years, though he expects the shift to happen eventually. The main risk to that timeline, in his view, would be a rival digital asset flipping Bitcoin first — a scenario he described as unlikely for now. The timing of the comment is notable. US lawmakers are still debating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a proposal to hold BTC as a national reserve asset, while central banks continue adding physical gold at a record pace — a reminder of how deep institutional preference for bullion still runs. Bitcoin, the largest proof-of-work network, currently carries a market capitalization near $1.6 trillion, the baseline from which any gold-flip scenario must climb. For Zhao, the race is therefore less about price charts and more about whether governments treat Bitcoin as a monetary asset on par with the metal that has anchored sovereign reserves for a century.

a September 7 post on Xhttps://x.com/WuBlockchain/status/2096750293786796459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Math Behind a $697,000 Flip

The arithmetic behind the claim is straightforward. With Bitcoin’s market capitalization near $1.6 trillion, a tenfold gap implies a gold market worth roughly $16 trillion. That figure lands close to the World Gold Council’s $14 trillion estimate for investable gold — the bars, coins, exchange-traded funds, central bank reserves and over-the-counter holdings that a large allocator could actually purchase. Matching that benchmark would put Bitcoin near $697,000 per coin, based on a circulating supply of about 20.08 million BTC. The distinction matters for sovereign buyers: a central bank cannot costlessly absorb jewelry, so the investable pool is the practical ceiling for reserve re-allocation. The picture widens further out. Gold’s full above-ground stock, which includes jewelry and industrial demand, is worth roughly $31 trillion according to the World Gold Council, and parity with that larger figure pushes the implied target toward $1.54 million — close to three times the investable-gold number. The spread between the two targets shows how much the answer depends on which definition of gold the comparison uses. Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego arrived at a similar conclusion this week, placing gold parity near $1.86 million on a different supply assumption. Supply dynamics, meanwhile, tilt the comparison toward Bitcoin over time. The asset’s supply is hard-capped at 21 million coins, and each halving cuts new issuance until it approaches zero, whereas the global gold stockpile keeps expanding 1% to 2% per year. At the current schedule, that asymmetry widens roughly every four years. Zhao framed the contest in exactly these structural terms — a shrinking-issuance asset against an ever-growing one — rather than as a short-term price prediction. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Gate.

Sovereign Adoption Is the Deciding Variable

Both the tenfold framing and the $697,000–$1.54 million parity range hinge on a single variable: sovereign wallets must keep choosing Bitcoin over gold, and no rival digital asset can close the gap first. Our read at COINOTAG is that the mechanism matters more than any headline number — reserve diversification is an institutional process measured in years, exactly as Zhao cautioned. The Bitcoin maximalist case of a fixed 21 million supply against a gold stockpile growing 1% to 2% annually compounds quietly in the background, and gold backers have already answered: Peter Schiff revived the Bitcoin backing debate with US debt above $40 trillion. Until a major economy actually re-allocates reserves, these parity targets remain scenario math, not forecasts.