Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, has been clearing a larger amount of transactions than global gold markets for well over a year, a trend that doesn’t appear to be slowing down, despite the crypto ecosystem’s bearish trend.

The data, first spotted by social media personality Kevin Rooke, shows bitcoin’s transaction volume surpassed that of the global gold markets since the beginning of last year, before its bull run that led to a near $20,000 all-time high, and is on track to process $1.1 trillion of transaction this year, while gold will process $0.4 trillion.

Bitcoin has been clearing more tx volume than global gold markets since early 2017. BTC: on pace to process $1.1 trillion in 2018 transactions

Gold: on pace to process $0.4 trillion in 2018 transactions Sources: https://t.co/eVqQiq56gv for BTChttps://t.co/zqh4eykqNb for Gold pic.twitter.com/oc5piRvrXE — Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) August 15, 2018

Interestingly, bitcoin surpassed gold at about the same time it hit parity with an ounce of gold. The flagship cryptocurrency is often seen as a “digital version” of the precious metal, which has been seen as the de facto store of value for thousands of years.

Bitcoin enthusiasts believe the cryptocurrency can serve as a store of value, just like gold, but with a few advantages. In fact, both are often compared, with most bullish BTC price predictions being based on it taking a portion of the gold market.

As CryptoGlobe covered, experienced crypto analyst Willy Woo stated earlier this month that BTC will “have a bull run” after its value significantly drops because of a “flash dump,” just like gold did in WFC (Wall Street Financial Crisis).

Bart Smith, Head of Digital Assets at Susquehanna International Group, one of the largest privately-held trading firms in the world, has touted bitcoin is “digital gold” and the “reserve currency” of the crypto space, as it can be used for cross-border money transfers.

Veteran entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has recently warned its over 700,000 Twitter followers they should get ready for an economic crash. Per his words, the USD is bound to crash in the future and, to hedge, investors should buy gold and bitcoin.

The famous Winklevoss twins, who founded the Gemini crypto exchange, have also argued bitcoin could see its price grow 30 to 40 times earlier this year, as its market cap could hit $5 trillion, if it manages to disrupt gold’s $7 trillion market. They said:

…we think that there's a potential appreciation of 30 to 40 times because you look at the gold market today, it's a $7 trillion market. And so a lot of people are starting to see that, they recognize the store of value properties. So we think regardless of the price moves in the last few weeks, it's still a very underappreciated asset.

At press time bitcoin is trading at $6,500 after rising 1.44% in the last 24-hour period, while one ounce of gold is trading at $1,191.8 after rising 0.66%, according to Yahoo Finance.