Gold came within a few dollars of $4K this morning, and that could light a fire under Bitcoin’s next rally. The precious metal’s surge to an all-time high reflects a global flight to scarce, inflation-resistant assets as confidence in fiat currencies continues to erode. Historically, Bitcoin ($BTC) trails gold’s moves before roaring ahead, and analysts now believe the setup for another leg higher is already in place. Meanwhile, institutional demand keeps growing. If gold and Bitcoin are climbing together, the next logical question is, where do retail investors turn for asymmetric upside in the next crypto to explode? Right now, that conversation leads straight to PepeNode ($PEPENODE). Gold Breaks Records as Investors Flee Fiat Gold futures briefly tapped $4K per ounce, while spot prices are pushing above $3,980, marking a record high and capping off a stunning 50% surge since January. The rally comes as investors flee weakening fiat currencies amid stubborn inflation, soaring US deficits, and intensifying geopolitical risk. Longtime gold advocate Peter Schiff called the move ‘a clear warning that current Fed policy is wrong,’ urging the central bank to reverse course. Now, big players are saying that $BTC has the same dynamic supporting it, and it’s time for Bitcoin to outperform. Both assets rise when faith in fiat collapses and governments overspend. The difference? Gold is traditional finance’s safety valve; Bitcoin is the decentralized one. Bitcoin Follows Gold as BlackRock’s $IBIT Nears $100B Bitcoin’s price action is once again mirroring gold’s trajectory – just on a delay. Analysts like Ted Pillows and James Bull point to an eight-week lag between the two assets, meaning Bitcoin could soon echo gold’s latest breakout. $BTC already touched $126K this week, up 33.5% year-to-date, but still trailing gold’s 50% surge. Former PayPal president David Marcus even argued that if Bitcoin were valued like gold, it would trade near $1.3M per coin – a bold statement that captures the shifting narrative toward digital scarcity. Institutional appetite is accelerating this shift. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ($IBIT) just became the firm’s most profitable ETF, earning $244.5M in fees and sitting only $2.2B away from the $100B milestone – a feat reached in just 435 days. The fund alone attracted $1.8B in inflows last week, reflecting Washington’s newly pro-crypto tone under the Trump administration. As gold tests $4K and $BTC eyes $150K, retail investors are already turning toward the next wave of scalable, high-engagement projects. Few capture that energy better than $PEPENODE’s ‘mine-to-earn’ model. PepeNode ($PEPENODE) – The Mine-to-Earn Meme Coin Powering a New Era While Wall Street tokenizes Bitcoin, PepeNode ($PEPENODE) is gamifying crypto mining. Instead of buying hardware or worrying about electricity bills, PepeNode lets you ‘mine’ meme coins virtually. Built on Ethereum, it introduces a simulated mining ecosystem where you buy, upgrade, and optimize Miner Nodes to generate $PEPENODE rewards. Every holder starts with an empty ‘server room,’ essentially your digital base where you can fill with custom nodes. Add or upgrade nodes to boost your yield, or sell them at any time to reclaim your tokens. It’s mining with built-in liquidity and strategy. Competitive leaderboards and community events turn earning into a game, rewarding top performers with extra prizes in trending crypto like $PEPE and $FARTCOIN. The project’s financials are already catching eyes: over $1.72M raised, token price at $0.0010918, and a massive 750% staking APY during presale. 💡 Find out why analysts forecast a potential 3x for $PEPENODE before the end of the year. The ‘mine-to-earn’ goes live when the token hits exchanges. As more players join, node demand increases, tightening supply and driving growth across the ecosystem. While Bitcoin ETFs dominate institutional headlines, $PEPENODE represents the retail side of the same story – a creative, yield-driven way to participate in crypto’s next phase. Join the $PEPENODE presale and get ready to fire up your virtual rigs. This article is not financial advice. Crypto carries inherent risks, so please do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you are willing to lose. Authored by Aidan Weeks, NewsBTC — https://www.newsbtc.com/news/gold-nears-4k-bitcoin-price-hints-pepenode-next-to-explode
