Veteran trader Benson says Bitcoin is turning into digital gold, while the real breakout phase has yet to begin
CoinKarma founder Benson, speaking on 168X with host Mr. Z, said the current Bitcoin cycle looks very different from the three crypto bull markets he traded before. His central view is that BTC is moving away from its old role as a high-beta proxy for tech stocks and is becoming more closely aligned with gold. He pointed to the 60-day rolling correlation between Bitcoin and gold, which he said briefly reached 0.64 to 0.65. According to Benson, Bitcoin historically spent most of its time with a correlation closer to 0.2 to 0.3, and there have only been 21 days on record when that figure moved above 0.6, with 17 of them occurring in the most recent month and a half.
He said the market began to confirm a bull phase when Bitcoin broke above roughly $82,000 to $82,500, and now sees $82,000 to $83,000 as an important support zone. For valuation, he prefers using the BTC/gold ratio rather than chart targets alone. Under his base case, Bitcoin could reach $150,000 to $180,000, while a stronger debasement narrative could push it into a $200,000 to $250,000 range.
Benson also argued that spot Bitcoin ETFs have changed the market structure by giving institutions a compliant way to gain exposure, finance positions and allocate capital. On altcoins, he said he is no longer interested in hunting for hidden names before the market notices them. Instead, he prefers coins that have already been validated by price, naming ZEC, HYPE, UNI and NEAR as his current core themes.
