Hypothetical Bitcoin and gold portfolio would have doubled Musk’s Twitter outlay
A financial review published on July 18, 2026, calculates that splitting the capital used to buy Twitter between Bitcoin and gold would have yielded approximately $114.1 billion, significantly outperforming the current valuation of the rebranded platform.
A financial analysis published on July 18, 2026, by TheStreet via Yahoo Finance, has drawn a sharp contrast between the financial performance of Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and a hypothetical investment in alternative assets. The report calculates that if the capital had been split equally between Bitcoin and gold on October 27, 2022, the combined value today would be approximately $114.1 billion, representing a return of more than 2.5 times the original outlay.
The analysis posits that allocating $22 billion to Bitcoin at the time of the deal, when the asset traded at roughly $20,000 per coin, would have purchased approximately 1.1 million BTC. At current prices of approximately $64,000, that holding would be worth around $70.4 billion, marking a 220 percent return on that portion of the capital. This purchase occurred during a bear market for cryptocurrency, shortly before the collapse of exchange FTX, when market sentiment was notably weak.
The remaining $22 billion would have secured approximately 13.25 million ounces of gold, purchased at roughly $1,660 per ounce in late October 2022. With gold prices now sitting at approximately $3,300 per ounce, that position has doubled in value to roughly $43.7 billion. The combined total of the Bitcoin and gold holdings, $114.1 billion, stands in stark relief to the current valuation of Twitter, which has been rebranded as X.
Since the acquisition, X has undergone significant turbulence, including an advertiser exodus, layoffs, and a 79 percent write-down of its stake by Fidelity. The platform has since recovered to a valuation of roughly $44 billion, meaning Musk is effectively back where he started financially after two and a half years. The report notes that while the numbers favour the alternative assets, the acquisition provided Musk with strategic influence, reach, and a direct line to 600 million users.
The context of this analysis is set against a broader market landscape in 2026. In June 2026, SpaceX debuted on the Nasdaq, valuing Musk’s stake at approximately $1.77 trillion. Meanwhile, narratives surrounding Bitcoin have fluctuated, with figures such as Michael Saylor of Strategy selling Bitcoin and discussions around Donald Trump’s crypto earnings influencing investor sentiment. The comparison highlights the divergence between pure financial returns and the strategic utility of owning a major media platform.
