Bitcoin's sharp pullback from its recent record high wiped out its year-to-date gains, and that's led to questions about aggressive price targets for the cryptocurrency into 2026. But as important as where bitcoin's price goes next is a question about the role bitcoin really serves in a portfolio: When will it consistently behave like a store of value?

"It's still going to have to prove itself as that digital store value over a longer period of time," Nate Geraci, NovaDius Wealth Management president, said on the CNBC "ETF Edge" podcast .

For years, bitcoin has been described as "digital gold," a comparison that can be powerful and appealing to investors since gold is expected to protect portfolios during periods of broader market stress, moving in a manner uncorrelated

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