David Tait, CEO of the World Gold Council, sees Bitcoin heading toward zero. The head of the global gold lobby called his assessment "pure trader instinct" in an interview. He offered neither a model nor a target date.
The World Gold Council is the industry body of the global gold sector, based in London. It also represents the interests of gold mining companies and promotes gold as an asset class among institutional investors. Tait has led the organisation since early 2019. The interview with financial journalist David Lin took place in May 2026. Only now, three months later, did the clip go viral on X. Pushback from the crypto industry came promptly.
David Tait sees Bitcoin as a failed crisis hedge
However, Tait's argument is narrower than the headline suggests. In his view, Bitcoin should act as a counterweight to risk positions. The asset would work as a kind of insurance against turmoil in equity markets. But the cryptocurrency has not filled that role. In periods of stress, he argues, Bitcoin trades like a high-beta risk asset instead of cushioning equities. Coverage of the interview points to the war between the United States and Iran as the reference case. Gold rose during that episode, Bitcoin fell.
With that, Tait touches on an older debate in the market. It revolves around the question of whether Bitcoin works as digital gold or trades as a risk asset. In his reading, therefore, the cryptocurrency lacks exactly the property that justifies gold in a portfolio. He gave no target date. He likewise named no valuation model.
"I thought it should be an offset, something you could use to offset the risk of a risk-asset position. It hasn't really done that to that extent. It's just my personal opinion, pure trader instinct." - David Tait, CEO World Gold Council
Notably, Tait makes no case for avoiding Bitcoin altogether. Anyone holding gold should also hold Bitcoin, and the other way round. In his view, both assets balance each other out in crisis phases. Moreover, he draws a sharp line between Bitcoin and stablecoins. For dollar-backed tokens he sees concrete institutional use cases in payments, in settlement and as collateral. He thus grants that product category exactly the function he denies Bitcoin. His scepticism targets Bitcoin as a store of value, not digital assets as a whole. That distinction largely disappeared in the excitement around the video.
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Crypto industry accuses Tait of a conflict of interest
The criticism therefore aimed less at the content than at the position of the sender. The World Gold Council draws its funding from the gold mining industry. Its work aims to anchor gold in institutional portfolios. At the same time, Bitcoin competes with gold for exactly that capital. As a result, a zero forecast from the top gold lobbyist meets a sceptical audience. The conflict of interest sits in plain view, especially as the association actively promotes demand for the precious metal.
Institutional capital flows paint a different picture overall. BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT reached around USD 70 billion in assets under management in 341 days. Until now, no other ETF has gathered that volume faster. State Street's gold ETF GLD, in contrast, needed around 1,700 days for a comparable level. That works out to roughly 4.6 years. So Bitcoin products crossed the threshold about five times faster than the gold equivalent.
In short, the comparison with GLD serves as a gauge of institutional adoption. AUM measures the total client money held in a fund. Specifically, such products hold Bitcoin physically and track the price through an exchange-traded share. Large investors consequently gain access to the cryptocurrency without organising custody and key management themselves.
World Gold Council bets on tokenisation itself
While Tait writes off Bitcoin, his organisation is building a blockchain application of its own. Under the name "Gold-as-a-Service", the association is developing a platform for the tokenisation of physical gold. A white paper exists. Next comes a proof of concept, planned for the end of 2026. Its target group is explicitly crypto-native users. The project also addresses the very investor group whose lead currency the CEO puts at zero. Such tokens mirror deposited gold holdings digitally, and holders can transfer them around the clock. The association wants to bring the precious metal into the same infrastructure that made Bitcoin big. The distancing by the CEO thus applies to the asset, not to the technology behind it.
This year's gold rally provides the backdrop. Market observers see two drivers. One is US government debt, which has risen to around USD 39 trillion. The other is gold purchases by Asian central banks. Furthermore, the central banks have been adding continuously for around three years, diversifying their reserves. They hedge fragile currencies with the precious metal. Earlier in 2026 the rally carried the gold price above USD 5,000 per ounce. Still, it currently sits at around USD 4,400.
