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Only gold vs bitcoin for store of value, not medium of exchange or unit of account. Gold winning 1 of 3 atm , looks likely to continue winning for 10 years ... Bitcoin needs to roll out quantum fix before it can beat gold, whether it is a real threat or not ...
I don't see why there can only be one, before the crime of 1873, the US happily used both gold and silver as monies. Also gold and silver are never going to go away as ornamental and industrial materials which ensures continued demand and thereby at least some viability as a store of value. None of them enable you to trustlessly send small amounts to the other side of the world in an instant so they'll never be able to compete with bitcoin online because a digital IOU on some hunk of metal in someone else's storage just doesn't cut it. When my friends ask to buy bitcoin off me, I tell them I only sell for precious metals because I think they're equally viable. So what I'm trying to say is bitcoin and precious metals complement one another and any competition between them is entirely unnecessary.
↩ replying to jhog57
If you've ever paid with coins, e.g. quarter dollars, it shouldn't be difficult to see how this can be done. For smaller transactions it is less risky to skip verification of every bit of money. For larger transactions it is more important. If you've ever paid with official government bank notes, you'll see many cashiers treat you like a criminal by running some marker across the bill and holding it up to the light. It takes a few seconds and is usually unnecessary but a similar procedure can be done if there is suspicion. If one percent of the manpower that has gone into bitcoin-related software and hardware went into automating this kind of precious metals verification, we probably could be using gold and silver today in person with less hassle than bitcoin.
True. But Bitcoin is much more than gold in so many ways. Through its verifiability we’re able to “not trust, but verify “. This creates a very healthy dynamic whereby incentives are aligned, and people seek harmony within themselves, communities and nature. Gold is just relatively sound money, which is very good in itself but does not create any relevant cultural shift.
There will always be both gold and bitcoin (and other currencies). There will always be people who want to profit from investing in gold, currencies, et. al. Bitcoiners will never convince everyone on the planet to give up all other currencies.
That might be the ultimate game, but the way bitcoin wins isn't by competing with gold; it's by competing with visa/mastercard. (et al) Once bitcoin has won that battle, it will have become the de facto king of Store of Value as well.
I appreciate the self reassuring echo chamber that is Nostr when it comes to BTC and you may well be right. But when it comes to life savings, why not have both in meaningful amounts. I mean how rich do you want to be when you die anyway….. And you sleep better => Live longer 😉
↩ replying to Harambe's last Bitcoin
Bitcoin is being coopted by the same forces that coopted gold and silver. Custodians, higher layers, ETFs, KYC/AML, treated like a stock for tax purposes, etc. That's essentially "paper bitcoin." All the same stuff that disabled gold and silver as money have happened or are happening. We say "not your keys, not your bitcoin" and that's correct. By the same logic we can say "not cold hard cash in your hand, not your gold or silver." Have you tried using bitcoin as money recently? It works great in a few cases but is far more tedious to use than in its heyday. It has been a while since I used gold and silver as money. It also works great in a few cases but is also far more tedious to use than in its heyday. I don't have to be anti-gold or anti-silver to be pro-bitcoin and neither does anyone else. We are on the same team. The goal is to get governments out of the money business entirely.
↩ replying to npub1x96u...aagw
Yeah and for me the strategy looks pretty simple. Trump administration waits for full gold remonetization, revalues balance sheet, gets 1T in liquidity, buys 100 billion Bitcoin, further monetizing Bitcoin. Why would the US want to monetize gold again, when BRICS are hoarding gold. It makes zero financial sense. The play would be to monetize Bitcoin and have Saylor go around the world to create the seeds of the new T-bill, Bitbond. Apart from this there will be the AI bubble risk capital moving from AI to the next risk asset. They'll certainly not play gold.
↩ replying to npub1v2n2...etnt
I think they’ll seize it and mine it in secret. Hash rate is no longer sensitive to price and energy costs are going up so they may already be mining it. Bessent slipped when he said they were only going seize Bitcoin not buy it. He walked that back but and went with the “tax-neutral” official talking point. I think they’ll seize sovereign wealth fund may acquire more than the treasury.
Let's further slow the Bitcoin/Gold ratio by letting everyone know non-monetary data is welcome on Bitcoin's blockchain. Let's completely nuke the 80-byte default and change it to, I don't know, how about 0.1 MB? This will make gold stronger against Bitcoin. Oh wait... Bitcoin has been losing to gold this entire year.