Bitcoin Forum

Where Should Common People Invest? Gold or Bitcoin?
http://bitforum.info/t/gold-or-bitcoin-where-should-you-invest/654

Maybe it depends on the country you are living in.

Maybe you can invest on Bitcoin if you are living in a tech savvy kind of place.

But if you are in a third world country, maybe gold is a much better investment.

What do you think?

Theres another topic about this, but bitcoin and gold are both very similar and different. Bitcoin is more volatile and more useful as a currency TODAY, but gold could eventually become a global currency eventually. Gold also moves much slower and is more of a thing to physically own.

Always invest in bitcoin, you will not disregard this advice.

What about if I live in a third world country like Philippines? Should I still invest in Bitcoin?

Anybody that has traveled a bit understands that third world countries have billions of poor people that own cellphones and smart phones. People getting paid less than 2 dollars an hour have smartphones everywhere. These same people don't have the means of properly securing physical gold effectively from thieves or a means of transacting with the rest of the world with gold as it mainly serves as a store of value.

Bitcoin is perfect for the unbanked and underbanked worldwide.

 

The bad thing is, can they understand the 'simple' steps of setting up a bitcoin wallet?

Of course they can. It involves downloading and setting up an app. Many are computer illiterate, but are very familiar with 600-800 dollar smartphones. My employees configure aps all the time on their smartphones.

The reason they aren't doing this in droves right now is because they mainly use physical cash and barter locally. A good percentage of their transactions happen on the grey market where they have no use for bitcoin until:

1) They are educated that Bitcoin exists
2) More and better translations appear for bitcoin and the apps
3) More local exchanges and remittances appear
4) more local merchants accept bitcoin

This will take time to roll out, but is already happening as we speak.

If you could only invest in one, I'd say gold. As much as I love Bitcoin, its a technology in its infancy, theres no telling if its going to last long term. I think your chances of having a high return are greater with Bitcoin, however you are pretty much guarenteed at the very least some return on gold. Gold has been currency/an asset for 5,000 years. Bitcoin has been for 6 years.

If its not a one or the other choice, why not invest in both?

So you do not believe that Gold will become less valuable in hmmmm maybe 15 years time?
Do you think it will be as valuable as Bitcoin? Or much lesser in value as Bitcoin?

The context is a recommendation for a third world impoverished person. I may agree with you if you own a safe or safety deposit box but where is a local artisan or farmer going to secure their gold coins? Many don't own bank accounts , they can't afford safety deposit boxes, petty theft is rampant and they have very little privacy with living in tightly crowded pueblos and apartments with many family members(some of which are drug addicts and/or thieves)


Gold is a safer store of value than bitcoin but won't go up much in value. From an investment perspective bitcoin is riskier but will likely have much greater returns. Either way an average person in a third world country cannot properly secure the gold and thus recommending it isn't a good idea.

No, I don't think Gold will lose it's value ever because it's a Metal available in very limited quantity, it's becoming harder and harder to dig more Gold and because of it's usage in Jewellery, Circuit Boards etc. it's demand will increase more and more.

LOL did you just attempt to use a Jedi persuasion technique on the poor guy?  :D

To answer op's question, I'd say you can invest real money in gold because unless some all powerful Jedi alters the way humanity perceives gold, chances are it'll still be a thing 50 years from now. On the other hand invest in Bitcoin only that which you can afford to lose.

Gold just sits there. You might as well invest in dirt. (Actually, that's pretty much what I inadvertently did when I had my pond re-excavated last year... but that's another story.)

Since gold has been around as a store of value for thousands of years, it's a safe bet that it is a known quantity and isn't going to soar in value compared to everything else suddenly. Whereas bitcoin does offer the possibility of real growth. Pretty much 100% of the human population knows about gold. Only a fraction of 1% really knows about bitcoin. So where is the growth potential?

This doesn't make sense. The price of Bitcoin is pretty much the same everywhere while gold has a bigger % variation rate. Did you try to say that it might be better, because it would be easier to acquire more Bitcoin?
This discussion is also being led in the economics part of the forum. There is no answer. A number of people think that it is better to invest in Bitcoin, the other group think it is Gold.
Personally, I'd like for people to start buying Bitcoin to use it, not to hold all of it.

You might be interested in this topic: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=979599.0
The same question, a lot more opinions :)

I would choose Bitcoin because it has a chance of tripling or quadrupling in value. Gold will probably never even double.

There are a lot of assumptions in general. Would one be able to secure reliable internet in a third world country, would one be able to secure a computer in a third world country, does the person have a disposable income, ie if they lost their investment would it be castrophic or just inconvient. A little bit of ingenuity and one could secure a physical asset. I think there are a lot more assumptions required in order for that person to be able to obtain Bitcoins in the first place.

All of that asside however is where my first response comes in. Gold is an assured store of wealth. Bitcoin may have more potential, but its not assured. So, assuming the person in the 3rd world country A. had the money to spare to buy Bitcoins, B. Had the proper means to obtain the Bitcoins (owning a computer and internet) C. would not be devestated if their Bitcoins became obsolete, lost all value, or became unusuable, I'd say go with Bitcoins. Else, I'd say go with Gold. (Actually Silver is an even better investment) but thats not the question, so I'd say in this particular situation, go with gold.


*edit*


Do you know anything about gold's historical price? It was under $300 per oz in 2002. It hit $1800 per oz a few years ago, and has been around $1200-1300 per oz recently. It has doubled in value in a single year.

http://puu.sh/gNlbo/dfb16c9f2e.png

Bitcoin has the chance of dropping to 0, while gold dont. Right or wrong?

As people always say "Gold has been consistent for thousands of years."
This situation may will be changed after the invent of bitcoin.
This is the age of internet, people need some thing more convenient to save and split thing to bear worth.
Bitcoin it is, not the gold. Gold is out of date.

Right, but don't believe that bitcoin will ever drop to 0 until this forum exists. ;D

Wrong. Bitcoin Will never go to 0. It will always have value even as a collectors token because of the historical significance. (Confederate dollars also don't have a 0 value either BTW, even a despised currency that is obsolete like
a old version of a Zimbabwe dollar has value- http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zimbabwe-50-Trillion-Dollars-Series-X-2-Pieces-PCS-100-Trillion-AA-2008-UNC-/271480969129?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f3586d7a9)

Those that suggest bitcoin may go to 0 have no idea what they are talking about when there are a million bitcoin "cult" members who aren't ever going to give up on it.

This being said I also like gold and have to suggest that gold is a much better store of value than bitcoin at the moment and something I recommend Americans and Europeans invest in alongside Bitcoin. This being said gold is worth nothing if you cannot secure it , and a poor person living in a third world country might be able to eventually save up for 1 gold coin that is likely to be stolen. Or they can slowly build up their bitcoin savings which is much easier to secure than gold and they can start small and slowly build it up unlike with gold where buying small amounts is very expensive.


I have traveled over all of South and Central America and currently live in a "third world" so I know what I am talking about. No, most people don't own computers, but a person making 2 dollars an hour has a 800 dollar samsung or iphone.
Yes, internet is reliable and everywhere. No, securing gold is not an easy task for the average person as they typically live with many family members and/or friends in small houses and apartments. Secrets are hard to keep and Petty theft is rampant and "hidden" things are often found. Securing a gold ring may be doable as long as you aren't mugged, but securing gold coins and bars .... forget about it unless you have the money for proper security or a safety deposit box.

The problem with Bitcoin is its utility means that it won't be as good of a store of value as gold. Gold is practically useless to use for the average person and inconvenient thus it forces the user to save. Bitcoin can be spent, traded, gambled, transferred, divided, ect... much more quickly thus may not be saved. ... now if users started using a future savings wallets with checklockTimeverify perhaps they could get much stronger security and be forced to save for longer periods.

Your joking, do you really think if bitcoin doesn't succeed it will still have value as a collectors token? Maybe physical bitcoins will but what sort of collector would want to purchase a digital currency that has no use.
Confederate dollars have value to collectors because of the history involved and the fact that they are real.
Historical significance of BTC will only last until the next digital currency surpasses it, is anyone still buying ecash to collect?   

No, I am not joking. Bitcoin is different than many other centralized digital tokens and represents and important shift in technology and historical significance. There is a core group of ideologues that won't give up on it(This is both a good thing and bad thing). If another cryptocurrency that is far superior to bitcoin comes along than we may switch to using that for everyday transactions but still keep a few bitcoins and asic rigs mining for sentimental purposes. In that event bitcoin could drop from its high (5k-100k or more?? in the future) to a much smaller number, 5-500 usd depending upon the adoption rates before it becomes obsolete.

Even if Bitcoin is obsolete the ledger and tokens still have value to us. This value is not in the digital token itself but in the network protocol and what it represents.

This being said , I also recommend gold (if you can secure it) as it is unlikely we are going to find a large amount of it soon on earth or through asteroid mining and creating it is too expensive. Gold isn't a good investment , but a good store of value.

as much as i love investing in bitcoin, i buy gold too. it is always the best of you do not put all of your eggs in one basket.

investing in gold is kind of a reliable way of investing my money and earn a little bit of profit from it.

but investing in bitcoin is more profitable than gold but has higher risk too.

i don't like gold at all, i don't see potential in it only stagnancy, it will never rise significantly, bitcoin on the other hand, has so much potential is not even funny, and i'm not talking only about the price, but its tech/protocol/blockchain everything related to it

I believe gold is a much safer investment for third world non-technical people, especially when you are asking them to send life savings to a chain of alphanumeric codes, understand fees, remember passwords and prevent malware. They cannot afford to loose their hard earned money. Gold may not have potential as high as bitcoin, gold retains it's value pretty well.

Yeah, but there is a big chance of bitcoin falling so low that will make everyone leave this forum. While gold????

Gold is a global currency today. In fact, it has never ceased to be one in the first place. After Bretton Woods gold had been officially backing up the US dollar (at the fixed price of $35 per ounce) until 1971, when the US terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold (the Nixon Shock). But that wasn't because gold had been bad, it happened because the dollar had not been doing well (too many dollars had been printed). In 1965 Charles de Gaulle, the president of France, exchanged his country US dollar reserves for gold at the official exchange rate. He was wisely followed by a few other countries. This led to the depletion of the US gold reserves and subsequent dismantling of the Bretton Woods monetary system...

Since then central banks of many countries have been hoarding gold

Play it safe.  Invest in turnips!

I want to invest in gold will be secure, the BTC industry is not very mature, but the situation is still good, appropriate purchase may have no small achievement.