Bitcoin traded lower on Wednesday as gold advanced, lifting bullion sentiment and underscoring a widening divergence between precious metals and top cryptocurrencies. Gold surged past the $5,500 mark to a fresh record, pushing its market capitalization higher to roughly $38.77 trillion as some measures suggested the day’s gains approached the scale of Bitcoin’s own market footprint. Silver followed suit, rallying about 21.5% over the prior week to a valuation near $6.6 trillion, a move that widened its lead over Nvidia, the technology bellwether often cited as a proxy for market breadth. The precious metals rally has been tied to a broad “debasement trade” thesis, with investors watching central-bank stimuli and fiscal expansion as drivers for hard assets. In contrast, Bitcoin has faced renewed headwinds since a crypto market crash in October that liquidated roughly $19 billion in positions, weighing on price performance in the near term. The narrative around Bitcoin’s role as a safe-h...