Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
They are not the same at all.
You are suggesting infinite divisibility, in order to have enough value to cover needs. That is not at all what happens with gold.
I once read a good explanation on gold (that is now very antiquated but still makes the point)... "400 years ago, an ounce of gold would buy a nice gentleman's suit. One hundred years ago, an ounce of gold would buy a nice gentleman's suit. Twenty years ago, an ounce of gold would buy a nice gentleman's suit. And today, an ounce of gold will buy a nice gentleman's suit."
That is why it is THE inflation hedge.
Gold has been gold forever. If you store a bunch of it (say, because you are a sovereign government), you can rest assured that, a year from now, or 5 years from now, or 50 years from now, it will still be what it is, behaving the same way (financially)
Bitcoin is not that. Not at all. It could be rendered worthless by new technology, getting hacked, or simply a loss of faith.
They are not the same thing and Bitcoin will never replace gold.
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Gold is Gold because it is gold. Gold could be rendered worthless by a loss of faith. These are the exact same arguments made thousands of years ago when gold became gold. Why would anyone want gold. People want gold because it is gold. Gold is the skin of the Gods not a holder of value.
The question is can Bitcoin replace gold. The answer is yes it could. To say never just misunderstands what Bitcoin is.
Your suit argument is also true regardless of the price of gold happens to be. Because the definition of nice suit gets to change to make your point and you get to cherry pick years. In 2000 Gold was $400 per ounce, $2000 in 2012 and $1100 in 2016. I was not aware the price of a suit changed that dramatically this century. $100 in 1900 is 3100 today gold was $20 an ounce making it worth about $600 today. So if I bought gold in 1900 I would have a have made 90-100x return vs 30x for inflation. By your argument that is not an inflation hedge.
It is certainly questionable whether in the next 25 years it stabilizes or not or is replaced. It’s kind of funny that the threats like hacking and being replaced with technology have similar analogs to gold in theft and mining tech resulting in cheaper extraction.
I think it’s weird that people are so keen to dismiss Bitcoin with absolute statements