<p>Demand for gold has shot up for the third consecutive month, thanks to the U.S.-China trade war risks and impending rate cuts by central banks around the world. </p> <p>The yellow metal holdings rose 101.9 tons in August, after the addition of a combined 154.1 tons in June and July, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-02/gold-etfs-surge-more-than-100-tons-in-august-as-havens-in-vogue?srnd=premium">reported</a> Monday. The current total known gold assets stand at 2,453.4 tons.</p> <p>Gold’s price has risen 19% so far this year to around $1,520 per ounce, as investors have reportedly been shunning risky assets and moving to safer assets such as gold.</p> <p>Interestingly, bitcoin enthusiasts insist on calling the cryptocurrency a “safe-haven” asset. But according to<a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/2019/08/19/musings-on-safe-havens/"> analysis</a> from The Block’s research analyst Ryan Todd, it is not. Bitcoin has seen an average 12.4% annualized 30-day volatility over the last five years, as compared to gold’s 2.5%.<br /> <br /> <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-38140" src="https://www.tbstat.com/wp/uploads/2019/08/volatility-1-800x409.png" alt="" width="800" height="409" /></p>