Bitcoin vastly outperforms Nvidia, Tesla, and gold over fifteen years

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone else planted a tree a long time ago. A thousand dollars, fifteen years apart, six trajectories that no longer have anything to do with each other. Placed in bitcoin in September 2011, when the crypto was worth $8.33, these thousand dollars would be worth around $9.6 million today, based on a bitcoin at $79,735 on September 8, 2026. The same note engulfed in gold, long presented as the safe haven asset par excellence against Bitcoin, would have only brought in $2,328 over the same period. In between, four other assets each tell a different story of the last decade and a half of markets.

Bitcoin explodes the counter, traditional tech follows from afar

According to historical price series from Macrotrends, Nvidia stock, adjusted for its multiple splits, was worth about $0.33 at the start of September 2011. At $230.36 as of the close on Friday, September 4, 2026, it has a multiplier of about 698 times, which would have turned $1,000 into $698,000. An impressive figure. Except that Bitcoin is doing almost fourteen times better over the same period, with an annualized compound return of close to 84% per year compared to around 55% for Nvidia.

Tesla, valued at around $1.85 in adjusted data at the start of September 2011, closed at $354.09 on September 4, 2026, a multiplier close to 191 which would have transformed the same ticket into around $191,000. Apple was worth around $11.40 in adjusted data for the same period and closed at $319.97 on September 4, 2026, a factor of around 28 which brings the stake to around $28,000. Nothing shameful, however: 28 times its value in fifteen years remains a result that most traditional investments can only envy.

Gold and the S&P 500 point out the obvious

Gold, precisely, stands out for its wisdom. Listed at 1,892.65 dollars per ounce on September 4, 2011, at the heart of a post-American debt crisis boom which would push the yellow metal towards its historic record of September 5 at more than 1,900 dollars before a fall to around 1,620 dollars at the end of September, gold moved to 4,406 dollars on September 8, 2026 according to USAGold, a modest multiplier of 2.33. A thousand dollars there would have become $2,328, the lowest performance in the ranking. Gold remains faithful to its reputation as a safe haven, one that protects without ever making people dream.

The S&P 500 occupies an intermediate position. Established at 1,173.88 points at the beginning of September 2011 according to the Multpl monthly series, the American index closed at 7,718.60 points on September 4, 2026, a multiplier of 6.58. A $1,000 investment would be worth about $6,577 today, not including dividends. With dividends reinvested, the multiple would be significantly higher. An honorable result for an index that reflects the American economy as a whole rather than an isolated bet on a handful of companies.