The stock market had a wonderful performance last year. That bullish fever trickled to other assets, like gold. The precious metal saw its price rise 26% in 2024.

But that gain doesn't hold a candle to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which soared 119% last year. If you have extra cash to put to work, you might be considering where to park it.

Here's why the world's top cryptocurrency is a better buy than gold in 2025 and beyond.

Both Bitcoin and gold are viewed as stores of value. It makes sense why: These assets are scarce.

There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin coins in circulation thanks to its halving schedule and hard supply cap that's etched into its code. And there is only a certain amount of gold in the Earth's crust.

That store-of-value perspective explains why people often see these two assets together. Investors also classify Bitcoin and gold as assets desirable during times of uncertainty, such as geopolitical or economic crises. Last year certainly fit the bill, which partly helps explain why the prices of both soared.

These two also provide some utility, although this might not be the main reason people want to invest in them. Gold is used in jewelry, but it does have value in industrial settings like when making electronics.

People undoubtedly own Bitcoin because they hope its price continues climbing. However, the network also allows anyone in the world to transfer value to anyone else quickly and cheaply. That's valuable to some people, particularly those in developing nations.

At a high level, both Bitcoin and gold are scarce. But there's a nuance that needs to be addressed. Bitcoin is absolutely finite as its supply cannot be altered.

Gold, on the other hand, doesn't have a set inflation rate. And its supply can be adjusted if demand rockets higher for whatever reason. Then it could become economically feasible to mine gold in certain parts of the world. There's even interest in mining the oceans, as well as asteroids in outer space.

This obviously proves that Bitcoin is scarcer than the precious metal. Unless the majority of nodes decided to change the halving schedule or increase the 21 million cap, which is highly unlikely as it would undermine the value of the entire network, this reality won't change. The inability to match supply with demand is one reason why Bitcoin experiences more volatility.

Bitcoin also possesses other properties that make it superior to gold. To be fair, gold has been valued for thousands of years, so it wins in the age department. Bitcoin has only been around for 16 years.