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By Alex Carchidi
If you're holding iShares Silver Trust (SLV) in 2026, you already know that silver has had quite the moment, and it might not be over. In contrast, if you're holding Bitcoin (BTC), you're probably wishing for the pain to stop, if only momentarily.
But it's precisely this extreme divergence of sentiment that may tempt investors into a familiar mistake: Treating recent performance as a map for how the asset will perform for the next decade and beyond. Regardless of these last few months of price action, one of these assets is the better long-term pick, so let's examine the case for each.
Image source: Getty Images.As an asset, silver is an industrial input, and demand can surge when manufacturing and energy build-outs accelerate. One particularly important growth segment for the metal is in solar photovoltaic manufacturing, which could by 2030 be the end use for more than 30% of global silver production, a rise from its share of 12% today.
But those ties to durable drivers of demand create downside, too. After all, if something's a pricey industrial input, there's an incentive to find a cheaper substitute. Solar manufacturers are already pushing to replace silver with cheaper materials like copper as silver prices rise -- and they're up by 17% this year so far, even after a sharp crash recently.
Furthermore, the supply of silver is also less predictable than you might assume. Prices change as demand shifts, and as prices rise, new deposits become more lucrative to mine, creating a bias against long-term price appreciation due to supply dynamics.
In other words, silver can and probably will stay somewhat scarce, but a lot of engineering goes into making it more readily suppliable. And if you aren't interested in holding it via an exchange-traded fund (ETF), silver stocks are also vulnerable to a handful of dynamics and risk factors that ETFs and physical silver simply aren't.
Bitcoin is down sharply in 2026, roughly 25% since the start of the year.
The narrative that it's "digital gold," a safe-haven asset with steady value, is looking quite weak at present. Nonetheless, Bitcoin has a supply situation that's quite different from silver, and that difference is why it's the better asset for a very long-term hold.
Only 21 million Bitcoins can ever be mined. Its issuance schedule keeps tightening over time due to halvings, which occur every four years and reduce the reward for mining new blocks by 50%. So, it'll never be significantly easier to produce the coin than it is right now.
Put differently, it's conceivable that one day, an asteroid holding a lot of easily accessible silver will be discovered, driving prices down. No such discovery can ever occur with Bitcoin.
Of course, none of that makes Bitcoin a safe investment.
It's volatile, subject to idiosyncratic risks (such as its encryption being compromised), and somewhat difficult to self-custody. Nonetheless, the longer your investing time frame, the more its inherent scarcity will make it a better pick over silver.
Because my colleague, Mark Rogers, has released this special report.
It’s called ‘5 Stocks for Trying to Build Wealth After 50’. And it’s yours, free.
Of course, the decade ahead looks hazardous. What with rampant inflation, a ‘cost of living crisis’ and war in Ukraine, knowing where to invest has never been trickier. And yet, with so many shares below recent highs, there are also potential opportunities to strike.
That’s why now could be an ideal time to secure this valuable investment research.
Mark’s ‘Foolish’ analysts have scoured the markets low and high.
This special report reveals 5 of his favourite long-term ‘Buys’.
Please, don’t make any big decisions before seeing them.
Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This article was first featured on The Motley Fool
