Which is a better investment and trading option, gold or bitcoin? The Brazilians like many other countries seem to prefer the latter. The digital currency trading volumes in Brazil has exceeded that of gold in the past six months.

According to reports, the total trade volumes of bitcoin on Brazilian cryptocurrency exchanges has surpassed the gold spot trading activity on Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange by about 7 percent. The trade volumes were calculated from the beginning of this year till the end of June. The total value of gold spot trades for the period of six months currently stands at around $44 million as against bitcoin’s $47 million during the same period.

The rising trend in bitcoin trading is not just confined to Brazilian markets. There has been a surge in the usage of digital currency among the trading community since the past few months, fueling n increase in the bitcoin value. The recent rise in bitcoin prices from about $450 to over $700 before stabilizing at around $650 is attributed to increased demand in the Chinese market, Brexit and other external factors. People in closed, failing economies are speculated to be more inclined towards investing in bitcoin than other conventional assets due to the decentralized nature of the digital currency.

The total bitcoin trade volume in Brazil during the month of June 2016 is found to have increased by over 45% in comparison to the volumes during the same period last year. Within six months, the total value of bitcoin trades has surpassed the overall bitcoin trade volumes in the past three years in the region.

The Brazilian bitcoin ecosystem is not just confined to digital currency trading. Many conventional banking and financial institutions have now started to invest in bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology. The largest banking institution in Brazil, Banco Bradesco is preparing itself to conduct a trial run of a new blockchain based digital wallet. The wallet, created by a startup eWally as part of the bank’s InovaBRA program will be put to test in Sao Paulo in the coming days where its payment and money transfer features will be evaluated. Also, another institution – BBVA Brazil (NYSE : BBVA) has invested in Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency platform.

Bitcoin and gold are two assets that are currently striving to become the most favored financial instrument for investments. Bitcoin has been doing fairly well so far, but gold still leads the race with over $20 billion worth of daily transfers. But unlike bitcoin with an estimated $1.5 billion transaction volume within 7 years of existence, gold has persevered through ages.