On April 16, 2026, an internal report from Citi Research, the financial research and analysis team of the financial firm Citigroup, concluded that combining bitcoin (BTC) and gold within the same portfolio improves the efficiency of returns without increasing the level of risk, compared to traditional structures such as the 60/40 portfolio.
The analysis was subsequently collected by media such as CNBC and other financial sector reports, and is part of the review of how alternative assets They are changing the construction of portfolios in a context of greater macroeconomic volatility and changes in the correlation between markets.
The paper notes that the growing adoption of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has contributed to the digital asset show behavior closer to that of traditional risk instrumentspartially reducing its narrative as independent coverage, as reported by CriptoNoticias. This change forces us to rethink its role in asset allocation alongside gold.
According to Citi analyst Alex Saunders, A 5% allocation to gold measurably improves the efficiency of a portfolio. However, dividing that exposure between gold and bitcoin generates superior results in different market scenarios, especially compared to traditional investment models.
Diversification without risk?
The study compares the recent performance of both assets in an environment of fiscal tension and inflationary risks. In the last two months, bitcoin registered an advance close to 9%while gold fell around 4%, in a context marked by geopolitical uncertainty and pressure on bond markets.
Furthermore, the report highlights that bitcoin has shown relatively better performance than gold in periods of weakness or instability in the fixed income markets, suggesting a dynamic of partial decorrelation between both assets in certain cycles.
Altogether, Citi proposes that the combination of gold and bitcoin can offer an improvement in diversification without altering the global risk profile of the portfolio, surpassing the traditional 60/40 portfolio in efficiency under different scenarios analyzed since 2020.