If bitcoin’s momentum continues, one new digital coin could be worth as much as an ounce of gold by next year.

Bitcoin has often been dismissed as a niche, fad, or worse. But in 2016, it has also been one of the best performing assets in the world. Aided by election surprises, a spike in geopolitical uncertainty and falling price volatility, the virtual currency is drawing in traders, potentially sparking a rethink about its novelty status. Bitcoin’s dollar value has rallied 124% so far in 2016, to $965 per coin, according to the Coinbase price index. It has been especially strong this month, rising 30%. For the year, that puts bitcoin’s performance far above the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s gain of 14% and even the year’s hottest commodities and currencies, which include natural gas, up 59%, crude oil, up 45% and the Russian ruble, up 18% against the dollar. If bitcoin’s momentum continues, one new digital coin could be worth as much as an ounce of an ancient currency, gold, by next year. With a 12% decline in the past six months, gold is trading at $1,157 per ounce. Bitcoin hasn’t yet matched its 2013 high of more than $1,100, reached during a brief spike and followed by a long collapse to nearly $200. But the market value of all bitcoin has reached a record level, more than $15 billion, because more bitcoins have been created in the past three years. The currency’s value now exceeds that of Twitter Inc.’s $12 billion.

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