Bitcoin Forum

Picture this. You get approached on the street and offered a straight deal: walk away with Bitcoin or walk away with gold of the same value. If given a choice to walk away with either Bitcoin or gold of equivalent value, what would you pick?

Asians and Westerners were asked in Taipei in Chinese and English if they would take Bitcoin or gold home with them that day, and the answer might surprise you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6GiC8dqN9A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6GiC8dqN9A)

We just shot a video outside the Taipei 101 skyscraper area here and gave people a chance to answer if they would walk away with either Bitcoin or gold- and why.

If you were approached and were offered the same deal, would you walk away with Bitcoin or gold in your pocket, and why???

Would take bitcoin because i believe that bitcoin has much bigger potential in price. I would also use bitcoins to buy/sell things which you can't do with gold.

you can't use gold because it's bank that it "build the FIAT value".

This similar question has been asked on this forum but the difference wast the gold was an ounce I believe.  You bet if I had to pick today it would be the Bitcoin.  Even though the price may not be as good as the gold over a short period of time I'd still take the Bitcoin.

I would Hedge BITCOIN Against The Dropping prices of GOLD and SILVER because of the Illegal Manipulation of the SILVER and GOLD PAPER MARKET! This is the best way to WIN!

Gold, every day all day.  Time will tell, but when the economic USD shit hits the fan, people will flock to gold-silver, not btc.  There's no historical precedence for it.  Btc is a bubble.

I would take the gold and sell it for Bitcoins. Then I would trade the Bitcoins for cadillac margaritas, porterhouse steaks and prostitutes until it was all gone.

BTC because I'd have no way to verify the gold but I would be able to verify the authenticity of the BTC. I used to be involved in the jewelry business, and I can assure you that you have a much higher chance of being scammed dealing with gold than you do dealing with BTC.

TT

As long as you're not using bitpay or similar service, that can work.  But until people get payed in btc, buy gas/food/rent/etc in btc, without a bitpay service, it's never going to work.

I take only verified gold/silver.  Coins/bullion/etc, no jewlrey.

If the market value is the same, I would take the bitcoins.  Here's why:

1.  I can immediately verify that the bitcoins are real (Tsquared said this above).

2.  The bitcoins can be directly sent to an address to which I have the private-key stored safely away, eliminating the risk of pickpockets or thieves.

3.  I can complete the transfer without touching the other person or his belongings (I would question anyone giving away free money, so I would assume it was some kind of a trick).

4.  I would retain plausible deniability that I actually received the coins; perhaps this was some sort of a weird sting operation in a foreign land where possession of gold had been outlawed.

5.  If I was in a foreign country, I would not have to worry about declaring the gold on my way home or having it seized by a corrupt airport official.

6.  It is actually illegal to take gold out of certain countries (Nepal for instance), so if this happened on the streets of Kathmandu, bitcoin would be far superior as I wouldn't risk being locked in jail for breaking some strange law that I may not know about.   

Or in other words it is far easier, cheaper and safer to take delivery of bitcoin than of gold. This is the reason why I would take the bitcoins. It is also the reason why I believe that bitcoin will take most of the market value currently assigned to gold away from gold.

Peter brings up some excellent points of how bitcoin can be compared to gold.  I believe for anyone it depends upon how they perceive bitcoin and plan to use it.  One would have to ask themselves:

Is it a commodity or security investment?  
Do I need it to be readily available?
Do I want to barter/buy things with it?
Do I want to use it to hedge against inflation?

Lastly why should anyone trust gold anymore than bitcoins.  Yes it is a physical commodity but the dynamics of its price can be impacted by many external factors.  They are both mined as well :-)

Doesn't this gold chart look a lot like a bitcoin chart - We just accelerated the timeframe just as bitcoin accelerates everything.

http://www.kitco.com/LFgif/au3650nyb.gif

It is a myth that gold is a good hedge against inflation over time. Take a look at this chart from 1980 to 2013. http://www.aboutinflation.com/_/rsrc/1368019709647/gold-vs-inflation/4_Gold_High_1979_Inflation_Adjusted_Historical_Chart_April_2013.png
From http://www.aboutinflation.com/gold-vs-inflation (http://www.aboutinflation.com/gold-vs-inflation). There was a brutal bear market in gold from 1980 to 2001.

What would happen if next big gold source somewhere on the earth would appear? Would the price of gold go down?

Up until this point I have picked BTC. Investing in BTC has made me want to start investing more in gold though.

Yes. Any time you add to supply you get inflation. Gold is still really rare, though. All of the gold ever mined would only fill about 2 1/2 olympic sized swimming pools. It's unlikely a really big gold source would be found where all the gold was in one place and fairly easy/cost effective to mine. For that reason ounces of gold available per person wanting them is still really scarce (like bitcoin) and likely to stay that way. Don't even talk about what would happen in a fiat collapse.

I would take the bitcoins,  seeing that they weigh nothing.

Great video, what do they call it in Japan? Bit a Bee??

No-one laughs at the mention of Bitcoin which is a good start. If it's taken seriously as a currency then it will be adopted when using it as a currency becomes easier.

Yep that's what i've been thinking. Thank you for your explaination :)

Bitcoin over gold hands down.  Gold gets manipulated in futures market, and you cant transfer physical bitcoins over the internet. even using gold to back digital currency wouldnt be better than a decentralized one.

i would do 70% bitcoin, 30% silver
or 30% gold

Bitcoin is an improved version of gold.

Easy choice. I always go for Bitcoin. Bitcoin is innovative technology. Gold has nothing to do with tech.

bitcoin, because it can not be counterfeited

I would say 50% of each. Both of them are investments that guarantee wealth. I would simply spend the gold, but hold onto my Bitcoins.

This, plus you'd have to walk around with gold, and to spend it, you'd have to liquidate it first.

I would have to say bitcoin all the way... There is much more risk involved, but the potential return is huge. Plus im a risky kind of guy

Gold  ;D I can covert it anytime to bitcoin.

Bitcoin ! Although it is very risky due to its high volatility now, but it is still new. It is an advanced technology, gold is soooo traditional and old hahaha

Gold price is increasing for last 5 days.
Bitcoin price is decreasing for last 5 days.
SO i choose gold. 

I would go for Bitcoin. The gold market is relatively staid. I've no idea where BTC will end up and that's what is exciting about it.

I would also pick BTC in this situation.
Although I am a fan of both, I see more growth potential over the next few years with bitcoins.

It's funny how after investing in crypto, everything else almost seems boring.   I guess you get used to the wild swings, which make other investment vehicles seem so slow...

Don't get me wrong, I have a diversified holding of different assets, but BTC and LTC are truly the only ones that I check on a daily basis.

I would take the bitcoins and hope its value will increase in a few years

If you can get some of both that would be the best for you.   It is always best to have money spread out over different things obviously.

Well, obviously  ::)
But the OP posed a hypothetical question.
That's what we were answering...

Yes.... if your portfolio is more diverse, then the more risk-free it becomes. But at the same time, risk-free investments will give you a (somewhat) fixed percentage of returns. For example, you can expect at the most a 20% per year annual profit from you bullion stash. But if you invest in Bitcoins,who knows, you may even get a 200% return.  ;D

Both Bitcoin and gold are interchangeable, So i will accept both.

Gold is good, but I've chosen Bitcoin because it can appreciate in value many times over!

Bitcoin every single time
Not even a contest!

We don't need  make a choice between gold and Bitcoin. These two things can coexist. Gold has its own purposes and shortcomings, as does Bitcoin. They exist for completely different purposes in completely different categories. And to claim that one is "better" than another is simply comparing apples to oranges.

There is one difference. Bitcoin relies on the internet and the blockchain. In some szenarios, eg. an extreme solar storm, the internet may not be available for some time. Disadvantage of gold is its physical appearance which makes it vulnerable to regulations.

Gold is produced by a dead star.  Hard to compete with that.  The Au/Ag market is being manipulated.  They can't hold out forever.  Dude gave me gold plus cash for a Jupiter miner last week, I thought he was crazy.  But then again he probably thought I was crazy.  So much bias here.  Go to a gold forum and make the same argument, it'll be the exact opposite.  Clear the emotion from your argument.  Gold/silver can't be easily stolen, it's stood the test of time, thousands of years.  Governments want it.  You should want what governments want.  No gov wants btc.  They want guns/ammo too.  Those are real.  Btc can only prevail if mass adoption takes place.  As soon as btc price spikes again, and it prob will,  it'll crash again too, maybe harder next time. People are going to dump them like a big shit.  It's a bubble.

Well bitcoin every time most of the reasons has been already expalin why.
But if i can have both i'll never say 60% btc & 40% in Gold.  :)

How does gold's physical appearance make it vulnerable to regulations?

lol. Maybe he think it;s easier to tax if its a physical thing?

LOL me too :) Ive got the saving bug!

I enjoyed watching that video, interesting to see the general public view on it. I would like to see the same done around other countries too.

Its worth considering though that selling gold isnt that easy, at least to get a fair price. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/gold/9932766/Buy-gold-they-say-but-how-do-you-sell-it.html

interesting read!

Bitcoin. On the street in isn't trivial to verify that gold from some guy is genuine. With Bitcoin it's just a matter of minutes.

Hmm... one of the advantages with Bitcoin. It can't be counterfeited. But when you are buying gold bars from someone, you are not going to blindly trust the seller. The buyer will do all sorts of checks to make sure that the bar is genuine.

My vote...Bitcoin.  :)

So far I've  bought Bitcoins for all money I don't think I will need for a while, and a few Litecoins just in case... But for the remote but real possibility that both Bitcoin and Altcoins fail I'm considering to also buy gold and/or silver. How are you guys hedging? Gold? Silver? Fiat on banks? Stocks? Real estate? Or you believe so much in Bitcoin you don't invest in anything else?

Would be very curious to see this as a poll, just to see if Bitcoin would be picked at a 100% rate.

I can't send gold by internet. So Bitcoin. (and don't get me started on the shares in gold which are nothing more than a fiat currency under disguise)

I'll take bitcoin.

btc: perfect money to trade, high volatility, high risk, depends on internet structure working. Not safe for end of world scenario, or for emergency reserve.

gold: stead value even in crysis, can have value if the internet structure is compromissed, good for emergency reserves, but less long term possible valuation. China also doesn't manipulate the market baning gold every week

Bitcoin. Only because it's price will go up. But if there was no price changing then Gold.

It seems like Bitcoin vs Gold has even results from the video.
But, I would choose Bitcoin over Gold!

I have already chosen Bitcoin over Gold. Never owned any gold and now own lots of bitcoin.

I've often heard the argument that "if the power/internet goes down, it's much better to have gold." But without power how do verify the gold someone is offering is real? Do you bite into it like in the old westerns? I've seen some fake silver and gold coins and they looked real enough to me. One copy Panda from HK had the inscription "Graet Wall" on it. I guess that was a bit of a giveaway.

Half and half, then see where each one goes in a couple of years!

gold is better

Very informative post, you really swayed my decision.

That is a very interesting video. I agree no one laughed and most had a good idea what bitcoin was compared to where live in the US most wouldn't know at all.

Personally I would choose bitcoin. There might be more risk but there is also the chance of a greater reward.

He didn't offer half/half it was gold or bitcoin, you must choose (gun to head).

This isn't burger king you don't get it your way :P

I would choose gold any day of the week.

Bitcoin is nice for the convenience of use for online purchases and it can be brought with you anywhere you want, sure that's a nice feature, and it can't be counterfeit etc etc...

But gold is recognized everywhere in the world. You bring a piece of gold jewelry to a poor or rich country and I guarantee they would recognize it as gold and hold value to it.

Gold is also a store of wealth more than it is an investment. Gold's primary purpose is a store of wealth for those who don't want or trust fiat currency.

It is unfortunate, however, that the gold/silver market is heavily manipulated hopefully someone cracks down on the banks illegal activity with price fixing.

Very informative and interesting video. Well done. And yeah, of course people are gonna pick gold. give bitcoin another few years :):)

Walk away with gold, try to sell it higher the same day if you cant buy bitcoinwith the gold. WIN

What if next big gold source somewhere on the earth would be found and the price of gold go down? I'll take BTC!

BTC

Why, cause gold has A LOT of blood on its hands.

Look at all the atrocities that have occurred (are occurring?) when gold/silver is found underneath someone else's feet.

Im not sure finding a big source would affect the price greatly but by all means take btc :D

It would effect the price for sure. But Bitcoin has just more potential than gold as we saw how bitcoin price was bouncing , we see that the price isn't stable so that a good risky investment.

And what if that is true :
http://gizmodo.com/5948739/researchers-discover-bacteria-that-can-produce-pure-gold
A bacteria that can produce gold.

At least no bacteria will shit bitcoins.

Bitcoin.
I read a Christian prophecy ehich says that gold will loose its value in total at the end of the world and its value is already decreasing.
Also there is another prophecy saying that fiat money will totally dissapear and electronic money will replace them.
Everything is happening already and we are close to the end of the world...

If it were some random guy on the street that came up to me, I'd pick Bitcoin.  At least you can verify authenticity within minutes.  For gold, gotta wonder if it's gold plated.  Also, sometimes they drill the inside of bars and place tungsten inside.  

If the gold were truly authentic, I would still pick Bitcoin as I think it has higher potential.

BTW, I do have some gold jewelry at home I got from a girl that wanted me to sell her a $350 netbook, and used gold name brand jewelry as collateral.  That was 5 years ago and the girl never paid me back cash to get back her jewelry.  That same laptop is probably worth $50 now, while the jewelry still holds it's value.

Not if that laptop has BTC on it!   ;D

I'd take the gold, and sell 1/2 for BTC. That way if BTC skyrockets or plummets, I won't lose everything, plus I like physical asserts, so gold with have always at least a bit of value, somewhere. 1/2 gold 1/2 BTC, so if either rises or drops, I won't lose everything.

although....
That latptop would make a good cold storage device now   :)

lol... random guys don't approach anyone in the street with gold bars.  ;D If someone approaches me with an offer to sell gold, I will take him to a pawn shop and check for the authenticity of his bullion. Will take a bit of time, but better to be safe than sorry later.

most people chose bitcoin, if they were guys.. and if not young guys, they chose gold. so what's surprising about that?

Hey, you don't expect a giveaway with gold bars, right? :D
I was always picturing OP's case with a small gold coin lol.

Nice experiment, and nice video with both Chinese and English subtitles.
Off-topic but I am curious, did the people being interviewed really get the bitcoin and gold? :)

Yes. They really got the Bitcoin or gold. Just one gram of gold or eqv. BTC (equivalent to $40). One guy was saying in the video that it is one oz. of gold, which was incorrect. So not a very big amount.

Well in my opinion it's a hard pick as there are both limited resources of both so eventually they will be rare commodities, so either will be valuable...
In my opinion, Gold is worth something no matter if it is the year 1000 or the year 5000...So in my personal opinion gold is the better option. Bitcoin is no doubt the best digital commodity, but digital can always be wiped out and thats not a risk I would take if I had the option to own gold over bitcoin!

But as RUEHL mentioned earlier, how can you verify that it is real gold before picking the gold? :P

This is the hard part. There is no 100% guarentee, but it has a higher chance of having at least some value as opposed to when the power goes out. Since Bitcoin doesn't have much of a physical representation, it's harder to use without the use of electronics. But gold IS somewhat likely to be counterfeited, but it all comes down to luck, mostly. You'll never have 100% guarentees, unless you did it yourself.

If the power goes out for good I really can't see gold having much value other than its prettiness. It's an abstract reward of value that only retains that in a society that functions normally.

I'd be doing deals with the guy with a barn full of toilet paper.

Gold/silver

Hahaha.  And then selling everything but the kitchen sink for a gallon of drinking water.

I would choose gold ;)

If just the same value between the two, I would pick the gold.
The value of gold here is increasing and I could easily translate it to money.

Wrong argument. In 2012, Gold was trading at $1,800 / Oz. Now it has come down to $1,280 / Oz. That is a decline of more than 40%.

Now check bitcoin. In 2012, BTC was trading at $5/coin. Now it is trading at $430/coin. That is an increase by 8,600%.

I thought the increasing prices of gold pieces/jewelries in the market could be my reference of the real value of gold. Well, thanks for giving me the information especially about the Bitcoin. There is really a big difference.

Well... the bullion rates for gold is not increasing. If the prices of Gold jewelry is increasing in your country, a possible reason can be the change in the value-added tax (VAT) or the import duty.

I'm not familiar with gold, silver and other earth resources so I would go with Bitcoins because I'm just more familiar with them and about gold I basically don't know anything like price, history and other so I can really compare which investment Is better. I'll have a task to find out more about gold now :)

It could be because of the less supply just like the law of demand and supply.
I just saw the value of BTC today and I would now say, I chose Bitcoin. :P

hmmm I beleive I would pick bitcoin cause at least I wont have to deal with middle man when I have to sell it.  Gold loses value alone due to people that wanna make money on it.

Both serves different purpose hence comparison not relevant.

I would pick Gold.  If shit ever does hit the fan, I highly doubt you will be to trade digital money for basic needs like food and water. With no electricity, bitcoin will be useless.

...

I have enjoyed the discussions above, the back-and-forth.

Of course owning both is better, diversification is almost always better.  And like one poster above remarked, you could choose gold, THEN sell half and buy BTC...

Speaking overly generally (as this is hypothetical and no one can predict the future) I would list the below as what each person might hold as %-age of net assets beyond real estate and stocks & bonds.

Gold% > BTC% > CA$H% (physical dollars in your hand/safe) > electrons at the bank%

Everyone should have cash at home for the unexpected...

...

Hmmm... talking about post-apocalyptic situations, I will agree that gold will be a better option. During the Soviet famine of 1932 (in parts of Ukraine known as Holdomor), fiat money was completely useless, as it couldn't be used to buy food. Those with gold coins / jewelry survived, as they exchanged it for wheat or barley flour. Others perished. Some 4 million died in Ukraine alone, and 8 million more died in Russia and Kazakhstan.  >:(

I don't necessarily mean post-apocalyptic situations.  What about a natural disaster like an earthquake? Any situation where power is out for a long period.  I don't see how bitcoin would be a viable commodity for trade.

Without electricity and an internet connection, bitcoin will be useless as far as I see it.

Bitcoin is currently online, but can theorically be offline by creating a money indexed on it. (Like dollar was on gold)
Such thing is not impossible, and I suspect some Bitcoin bank will think about it.

There would need to be some smart chip physical token, or physical coin, where the value is backed by bitcoin and the token itself is guaranteed to contain the private key with no way to redeem it but to destroy the coin.

The current implementation of physical crypto or physical bitcoins is very low tech. It would have to be some smart chip or rfid or something similar. Also has either a long battery, or is solar / movement powered.

That way, you can physically hand it over and anyone can easily verify the value without external power or an internet connection. Eventually, someone has to check on the blockchain.

Is it possible to create such a coin? If the private key is kept inside the coin, there is no foolproof method to make it sure that there is no replica / backup kept elsewhere. Also, no one can guarantee that the private key can't be somehow stolen (undetected) from the coin.

There are ways to make chips essentially read-only, and the part that knows the private key can only sign messages (essentially confirming that it has the private key) but nothing can read it except opening it up. Then the thing can be sealed in such a way that if anyone opens it, you destroy the physical bitcoin. You'd have to re-create the coin, but then it would be obvious.

This works as long as the value of that physical bitcoin is not very high. It would be more expensive to attack it than to just simply use the coin.

This part is troublesome. Crooks will always find out various methods, to open the coin without physically destroying the Bitcoin. Also what if the manufacturer of these coins copy the private key to somewhere else, before entering them to the coins?

I prefer bitcoins than gold. Bitcoins in future will give more returns.

The Bitcoin is really high and might get higher so it will be BTC for me.

The real question should be would you pick 100kg of Gold or the equivalent in Bitcoin given the fact that both will be delivered and stored safely for you?

It seems that only a complete jackass would pick Bitcoin over Gold, Bitcoin is great as far as currency goes and for speculation purposes, it's a great rival for USD and other monopoly currency, the real store of value is Gold though.

I would go with gold. Maybe in couple of years that will change but for now I would rather have a physical gold then a virtual bitcoin

Silver obviously
But BTC over Gold, Gold is even more hyped than BTC in December  :-\

bitcoincs, i can have them safe, noone can get them from me, best thing ever
gold can be stolen from me

I would get get bitcoins made out of gold then put my wallet in each gold coin, now how awesome would that me to have bitcoins made from gold.

Ernst and Young Tax Expert Jeff Chou is LIVE on Twitter right now doing a Q/A and Squawk Showdown with Keith Hilden of Squawkonomics, the guy who did the bitcoin vs. gold video!!! Direct any of your questions and gold vs. bitcoin comments to him, and he will answer.

#squawkshowdown

@Squawkonomics

-Kekky

Might be the vice-versa. If offered in same quantities, an intelligent person would pick Bitcoin over gold. If you are concerned about the security, then you can make multiple backups and store them in USB drives. On the other-hand, storing that much of gold will be extremely risky, and expensive. And you'll get a number of visits from the tax authority guys as well.  ;D

well, this quiet hard
in that side, bitcoin still raise from the deep to sky
and in another side, gold is like god in real money

I will choose gold after all  ;D , cause BTC is still in minority, but i hope it will raise like real gold  ;D

I would pick.... mold.

Life is the only true source of value.

Good point.  Very few people even care what bitcoin is, and even less people than that are gonna consider it a viable commodity in a natural disaster.  When the power goes down and a person needs to trade for the basic necessities for survival, are people going to accept bitcoin or gold? 

As you know, money has six main characteristics (such as  durability, portability, divisibility, fungibility, limited edition, prevalence) that allow it to be an ideal tool for financial transaction

Gold established itself as the most robust and durable metal on earth that doesn't lose its properties over time. Thus, according to the first criterion, gold is better than Bitcoins.

However, according to the other five criterias Bitcoin has the benefits.  For example, you can transfer the cryptocurrency anywhere in the world where there is access to the Internet.

IMO, Bitcoin is our future

Gold because it won't get attacked by hackers or be lost due to user stupidity

That is a point, agreed. But at the same time, Bitcoin doesn't need expensive lockers and safes to store it. Even after doing all this, gold can still be stolen. Haven't you heard about any robbery of bank lockers in the recent time?

paywall, can u post it?

I would go for gold as this can be used as "currency" when you don't have any money. And also because it holds value much better than Bitcoin.
People trust in gold, not so much in Bitcoin. Trust in financial world is very important, at the moment Bitcoin is not being trusted by many people.

My personal opinion is Bitcoin is going to stay for some years, but eventually Bitcoin will not succeed.

I will also go for GOLD ..

I would say BitCoin for sure. There is so much more of a fluctuation change with BitCoin.

Bitcoin is our future,gold is our Reality. To be or not to be, is the question.

gold is much more practical right now.

There is a hard floor for gold don't know where but the downside is limited not so with bitcoin. so only gold will be sure to have value in a few years time.

I believe in BTC, much better than gold

Gold is pretty much hacker proof

Is Gold safe cracker proof though?

http://bkbpublications.com/cheklist/wp-content/uploads/safe12.jpg

not at this point it isn't.  What can you buy with gold?  Lots of stuff and almost anyone would accept gold as payment.  Can't say the same thing about bitcoin, you can buy very little with it and very few people will accept it as payment.

IMO, Bitcoin is more efficient as a mode of exchange cos it doesn't need someone to mind it (as with your bank accounts).
So If I want to transfer $100,000 to Germany because I'm relocating, I don't have to deal with any of the regulatory bullshit that is going to take 2 weeks and $300 just to get my own money. I simply use bitcoin and all of the taxes and fees are gone.

Is it good for me? OFC! I hope Bitcoin will be our future.

I must go it Bitcoin. Because i can use it as a medium of exchange. Which can't happen with Gold and also Bitcoin is getting popularity faster. Some of you talk about Gold. I don't understand why are you thinking about Gold.

blackcoin actually :)

If you want to advertise about some worthless dump-and-pump shit-coin, then do it somewhere else. I believe that the proliferance of these shit-coins is one of the main reasons for the decline in Bitcoin exchange rates right now.

I have to agree with you. Bitcoin is already struggling with its reputation these days. With every one of these altcoins that come out, bitcoins credibility only worsens. I will say one thing about blackcoin though, at least it sounds better than some of the ridiculous alt coins out there.

$5 video rental + gas cost to drive to Blockbuster, or Netflix, which would you pick?

Horse and buggy or ultra-cheap electric car, which would you pick?

$2000 Airplane ticket or $2 teleportation fee, which would you pick?

choose both?  half BTC, half in gold.  ;D

Yes, so, if the coin were purely physical, like casascius coins, people have already managed to expose the private key without destroying the hologram sticker.

But if the physical coins were actually chips sealed in epoxy or something, there is no way to x-ray that, and the only point of contact would be the terminals, but all the chip can do is sign a message.

Sure you can probably empty or sweep the bitcoins away, but anyone who can see the blockchain will know.

I think, that's the main issue, the only sure fire way to know if any physical coin has real bitcoins is to check the blockchain, therefore internet service is required. There is only a token amount of certainty if you have an offline blockchain that is not updated in real time.

But if a particular bitcoin address has held a value for a long time, it might make sense to assume that it will continue to have that balance.

So there are two ways to make physical coins:

1. low tech way, just a coin secured by how it is sealed, brittle, easily destroyed, not easy to recreate, and has low value so it won't be a target since it costs more to "open it up".

2. smart chip or something and only a serial terminal to communicate with it. Think of yubikeys, for example.

You combine both methods to produce a smart chip that dies easily if someone attempts to open it, rendering the coin useless.

For my own personal use, I could get a micro SD card and seal it in it's original container, then sink that in a small cup of resin. When the thing dries, I'd have to carefully break it out. Those memory cards can last maybe 10 years, more if not use and sealed like that.

Of course, no one else would believe that this little blob can possibly contain the private key.


I'd still pick bitcoin over gold, at least for the next 5 years.

Bitcoin.Although the discovery is big, but can bring more profits.

I currently need some bucks so I would choose gold since the BTC and gold in the example just have same value.. Because gold is easier to sell everywhere  Just my two cents. :P

Gold is more certain.
If you want to risk more, bitcoin is good.
Depends on what you like. Risky or not.

If I had a chance I would pick 50% gold and 50% bitcoin.  ;D  If one of them would disappear I wouldn’t lose all of my placement of funds.. Or if one goes up it’s a great chance to exchange it for smth else.

Well... gold is not going to disappear for sure. It is an established form of currency / cash / wealth. So you can say that in case Bitcoin disappears, you won't lose all your funds.

What to pick depends on the rate. The question is wrong, what did you mean? 1 bit coin vs 1 kilo of gold? Or BTC and Gold in equivalent of 1000 USD? I would pick gold as I always can change it for everything.  ;D ;D ;D

To answer the OP's question, I would choose bitcoin if I'm looking at it as an investment with a long term horizon. I would choose gold if I was thinking about retirement soon. I think it all depends on your time horizon and what the overall purpose is.

well, in my opinion
when world goes down and it will be survival time. most of people will trade the thing that can survive them like food, clothes, home, water. and gold have place in there, but when other thing have enough of them. Gold will be back to be internasional trade (we can call it luxury thing) and another example of luxury thing are pearl and silk (just come in my mind :| )

Depends on the charts.

Gold still remains unbeatable

A part in gold because this gives you more certain for the financial future.
A part in bitcoins for the risk. YOu never know it goes up and up ...

very interesting issue, as for me I would prefer btc, I still belive in his future

Until people realize Bitcoin is a superior store of wealth, and dump all their gold in favor of BTC. The value of gold will plummet whenever we hit that critical inflection point.

This is a question of when, not if.

I would take Bitcoin over gold because it's easier to transfer and it's easy to divide to use it for micro transactions.

Would take bitcoin  ;D

Well simple choice. I would chose BTC even more so since I am 100% syre that the price will go skyhigh in the next two months. Gold reserves are huge, if someone is willing to drop the price he just has to sell a lot ( someone = country ).

https://twitter.com/LevonMarcellus/status/465484176293388288

I prefer gold than bitcoins though bitcoins can give more returns in future

I love both of bitcoin and gold ;D

You prefer gold although you seems to be quite assured that the ROI from gold will be much lower than what you'll get from Bitcoin. So may I ask you what is the reason for that?

Bitcoin.

Good for long term storage but almost as liquid as cash

I would go with gold, as gold that you can take home may be able to sell above the price it really is worth (just like caucasus coins).
I would then sell the gold at a premium and buy coins with it.

i would pick gold...
also take fiat over bitcoin.
i've being in situations where i have being offered bitcoin when conducting business, i said thank you, but i will take thems folding money.
i do plan on getting bitcoin in the near future, but i plan on getting them through trading minor currencies and building up slowly.. riding the pumps and selling for profit before dumps...

If and when this does happen, I agree with you that the precious metals market will sell off. And with that correction, it may present an excellent opportunity to look at the metals.

Found an interesting article about Bitcoin vs Gold from yesterday.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2213713-bitcoin-vs-gold

Bitcoin has become stagnant in the last time. I wonder if it will rise much, let's see. I would better invest in gold.

nah its to easy to insert capital controls on gold, to hard to transport it and cut it up to actually use, and it can be confiscated.

Force can always be used against gold and always has. Force can not change maths.

I like the way you think!

It depends on the mood when I am asked this question. If I feel depressed and pessimistic, I like gold. If I feel optimistic, I'll take bitcoin. 

Gold, Silver and Bitcoin. I would not be all in on one alone.

Right, both can be a good idea. Do not put your eggs in the same basket, right. :P

i have both.  i trade options daily.

Diversifying your investment is the best strategy, especially when dealing with extreme-high-risk investments such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. No one should forget that Bitcoin could become worthless in a matter of seconds, if someone successfully does double spending.

I would walk away with Gold.

OP, what makes you think that a 5 year old "experiment" is worth more than gold which has been proven as store value and has been around for ages and is physical?

OK, maybe some of us should get our shit straight.....

I like BTC, alot.......

But.......   many buts......

Too early for anyone to make that comparison....
Don't you think?

I don't think, cite one alternative way to transfer wealth anonymously accross border and people, and I might review my comment ;)

Nobody will know if you give 1Kg or one Ton of gold to someone hand to hand.   ;)

Unless you tell them....

I'd pick bitcoin. I think bitcoin is far better than gold in many ways, especially as a currency. Before I'd heard of bitcoin I would have liked to own some gold bullion, but I think bitcoin is a much better investment now.

Bitcoin is by far the better investment. Maybe it wont be in the long term, but definitely for the considerable future. Gold has its uses, though.

Right now, bitcoin would be the best thing. It's easily trade-able and valuable in our time.

But theoretically speaking, gold is what drives out economy. If this was a previous time, gold would have been the best choice since gold is what controls the economy.

Or unless you try to pass the border with it.

I would choose Bitcoin, as I know quite well about it.

It's not that hard:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_YxvmQR6UA/TsWOKbPvEMI/AAAAAAAAFSk/EZeLjQUCNFk/s1600/http-%253A%253Athuglaws.com%253Ahow-to-become-a-rapper.html.jpg


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NfsdvUxYGkI/SxQo_ROmNJI/AAAAAAAARpE/foW2k2dndOY/s1600/3C8P6343.jpg


 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

bTC