Chris Curl,
Editor
Oct. 9, 2025
Two years ago, in Crypto Cycle Issue 46: Flight to Quality, I wrote about what I call the “currency debasement trade” — the inevitable migration of capital from fiat instruments into tangible and trustless stores of value.
Back then, Bitcoin had just surged past $30,000 and gold was clawing its way out of a multi-year consolidation. The world was beginning to sense that something was breaking beneath the surface of the global financial system.
Fast forward to today — that “flight to quality” is no longer theoretical. It’s here.
From Prediction to Reality
In that October 2023 issue, I warned that the U.S. fiscal “doom loop” was accelerating — that soaring Treasury yields would eventually force policymakers into the same corner every debt-heavy empire finds itself in: monetize or default.
The Federal Reserve’s illusion of control over inflation would fade long before their 2% target was reached.
I wrote then,
“The inflation genie is out of the bottle. The 2020s will be a decade of inflation if not stagflation.”
That forecast now reads like a headline from this morning.
After another two years of ballooning deficits, record debt servicing costs, and stealth quantitative easing through the Treasury’s backdoor operations, the debasement of the dollar is unmistakable.
Commodity prices — led by gold, oil, and uranium — have entered a structural bull market. And Bitcoin, that once “speculative” hedge, has matured into a macroeconomic pressure valve for the digital age.
The New Monetary Divide
The “flight to quality” I described in 2023 has split the investment world in two.
On one side, there’s the old paradigm — dependent on negative real yields, government promises, and the illusion of monetary discipline. On the other, a new architecture of capital preservation is taking hold: sound money, self-custody, and decentralization.
- Gold has broken decisively above $4,000, not because it suddenly became shinier, but because central banks — led by China, India, and Saudi Arabia — have doubled down on de-dollarization, swapping Treasuries for tonnage.
- Bitcoin has surged beyond $126,000, fueled by institutional flows that the 2024 spot ETF approvals unlocked. The same “floodgates” I predicted have opened — and this time, Wall Street is following, not leading, the liquidity cycle.
This is no longer just an inflation hedge story. It’s a confidence hedge — against the fiscal unsustainability of Western governments, the geopolitical realignment of global trade, and the erosion of trust in fiat-based systems.
A Structural Shift in the Financial Order
When Issue 46 went to press, I highlighted how the BRICS expansion, energy-backed trade agreements, and China’s selling of U.S. Treasuries were early indicators of a post-dollar world.
Those same forces have since coalesced into a multi-polar reserve system, where the dollar remains first among equals — but no longer the only game in town.
Central banks now treat gold as money again. Sovereign wealth funds hold Bitcoin on balance sheets.
It’s not hyperbole to say we are witnessing the first coordinated diversification out of U.S. debt and into hard assets since Bretton Woods.
The Flight Continues
Two years ago, I wrote:
“I’m less worried about the dollar’s comparison to the Euro or Yen than its value against tangible commodities like gold, oil, and other assets that cannot be reproduced at will.”
That warning aged better than I could have imagined.
The dollar index (DXY) might still hover near 100, but it buys less of everything that matters — energy, housing, and time. Investors who sought refuge in paper wealth are finding that “nominal stability” doesn’t equal real preservation.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin and gold — the twin pillars of modern sound money — are doing exactly what they were designed to do: store purchasing power amid systemic debasement.
The Endgame of Fiat
The “Flight to Quality” issue wasn’t about predicting prices — it was about recognizing trajectories. The trajectory of monetary trust was, and remains, downward. The trajectory of tangible and decentralized value is upward.
We are now deep into the currency debasement trade I warned about: where governments print, central banks pivot, and capital flees toward scarcity.
For those who acted early — who understood that sound money isn’t a trade but a transition — this is just the beginning.
Keep coming back,
Chris Curl
Editor, Daily Profit Cycle