With bitcoin being so volatile, I am not so sure if it is really such a safe bet compared to gold. The one thing I am betting on though is that bitcoin still hasn't peaked. What we saw at the end of last year is just icing on the cake. Whatever is the publications agenda, they sure helped in ensuring that bitcoin's price would be on the up for the coming weeks.
This is what hopes are for. We all hope that bitcoin hasn't yet peaked, but the outlook for it is not very cheerful in general. Many people had bought into the December rally, while the longer bitcoin remains at its current levels, the more inclined all these people will be to sell their coins whenever bitcoin tries to move higher. Maybe we need another major crash to make the bag-holders sell at a loss so that there wouldn't be a lot of resistance on the way to new highs in the future.