According to reports from BeInCrypto, Bitwise derivatives head Gordon Grant argues that Bitcoin's digital gold status will be proven by who holds it under sanctions, not by its price chart. Grant debated this thesis with Theo CIO Iggy Ioppe on BeInCrypto's Market Intelligence Experts Council, with both experts agreeing on the long-term digital gold narrative despite differing on short-term performance. Grant sees sanctioned states quietly accumulating Bitcoin similar to how Iran once used gold under strict US sanctions, with countries like Iran, Russia, Venezuela, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and potentially China showing signs of Bitcoin adoption. As Grant explains, "There's an increasing set of cohorts amidst the BRICS countries that seem like they're holding some Bitcoin... maybe some countries in the Far East, maybe China, Kazakhstan."
As reported by BeInCrypto, Grant points to recent market data supporting Bitcoin's digital gold characteristics. MicroStrategy recently fell below $100 for the first time since March 2024 and made its first Bitcoin sale in years, while Bitcoin trades near $60,347, up 1.24% in 24 hours, with a $1.21 trillion market cap. The 200-day correlation with the S&P 500 has retreated from near-record highs in 2025 toward zero, similar to dips seen in 2015, 2018, and 2021. Grant notes that Micron sold off 30% while Bitcoin didn't react, and MicroStrategy itself sold off significantly while Bitcoin is higher than when MicroStrategy was considerably higher. Grant's definition of a macro hedge focuses on conditional decoupling - resilience and hedgeability matter more than performance, changing the question for Bitcoin from needing to rally through crashes to loosening ties to equities during hostile conditions.
According to BeInCrypto, what Grant frames as inference became law weeks before the debate. Russia legalized bitcoin and stablecoin payments in foreign trade on July 1, explicitly to bypass Western banking sanctions. The EU responded within weeks with its latest package targeting 11 crypto platforms tied to Russia and tightening exchange checks. This represents a shift from 2022 when sanctions pushed states toward gold, as the workaround now runs partly through bitcoin rails.
As reported by BeInCrypto, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan expects the Clarity Act to enter a "walking dead" phase if it fails to proceed before the summer recess, with only a 23% chance of passing by end-2026, down from 75% in mid-May. Despite these delays, Hougan believes crypto can keep advancing even if the Clarity Act stalls, citing institutional adoption momentum. Large financial institutions like BlackRock, the Nasdaq, JPMorgan and Visa have stepped up engagement with blockchain technologies, with Hougan noting that SEC Chair Paul Atkins has indicated the SEC is ready to implement rules dealing with key aspects of the digital asset marketplace. Hougan argues that direct SEC rules are likely to be more favorable to innovation than Congressional legislation in the near term, and even if rules are rolled back by future administrations, the amount of institutional adoption to date makes it difficult to pull the industry back.
