Bitcoin as a better store of value than gold

[Wind_FURY]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

[BuyBuyBitcoin]

There is also a 10-15% markup for physical gold purchases. People actually storing it in vaults compared to getting the paper certificate for gold are rare. It's very similar to the central banks paper printing people are supposed to value.

Bitcoin you can actually own, hold and transfer fairly easily anywhere in the world.

[demenBTC]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

most people in my country use gold as jewelry, there are still minimal people using it as an investment in real assets

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

yes, I agree that we have bitcoin as a hidden asset and tax free from the government, but the downside of the bitcoin wallet is still vulnerable to security from hacker attacks

[Wind_FURY]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

most people in my country use gold as jewelry, there are still minimal people using it as an investment in real assets

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

yes, I agree that we have bitcoin as a hidden asset and tax free from the government, but the downside of the bitcoin wallet is still vulnerable to security from hacker attacks

That "downside" is hugely weakened or can be totally eliminated by using good security practices, and common sense.

Use this, it's an easy cold storage set up guide for newbies, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5086011.0

[davis196]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

I don't know about any restrictions regarding the amount of gold stored by every individual.
For me,storing bitcoin (cold storage) and storing gold in a safe deposit box is kinda the same.
The only difference is that you can't store large amounts of gold,because it's heavy and it takes more space.

[killat]

Bitcoin has the potential to become a virtual gold. In other for this to happen it needs first to fix 3 of the main constraints: scalability, volatility and adoption rate.

[dreamax25]

Bitcoin just reached its 10th aniversary!

https://coincodex.com/article/2823/bitcoin-turns-10-the-tenth-anniversary-of-the-bitcoin-genesis-block/

[erikoy]

Yes when it comes to store value bitcoin is better but in the long run. Gold has some attributes to which it could be better than bitcoin. The disadvantage of bitcoin in the long run is that its market price volatility. I could not really speculate well because bitcoin system has still a lot of things to prove compared to gold that has proven already its worth over the period of time.

[VitKoyn]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

I agree that Bitcoin is better than gold in terms of store of value. Keeping or securing gold will need you huge and secured place which is very expensive, while you only need a cold storage for Bitcoin to be secured which will only cost you small amount of money and you only need to know how to secure it properly. When it comes on exchanging, Bitcoin is more faster and cheaper to transfer, you can send it overseas without waiting for days or weeks for the transaction to be done. Though there are still few online or offline stores that accepts Bitcoin which will eventually increase, which stores accepts gold as payment? I don't remember any.

[Wind_FURY]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

Well I think people forget how often gold bars are faked and filled with tungsten bar, I would say that there is an advantage for Bitcoin there

Plus Bitcoin is provably scarce, gold is not.

but a huge advantage of gold is it's time proven store of value, we are only at ten years of Bitcoin being invented and Gold has been a store of value of ages.

But it's maybe because there was nothing better than gold, as a store of value, until Bitcoin came.

I know there are pros and cons to both, but which is truly better is open for debate.

[Upgrade00]

yes, I agree that we have bitcoin as a hidden asset and tax free from the government, but the downside of the bitcoin wallet is still vulnerable to security from hacker attacks

Bitcoin is not tax free, different governments and nations have different disposition to bitcoin and the digital market.
Bitcoin holders pay taxes in Canada and the USA, and most countries in Europe are looking for ways to regulate and profit from this growing market.

Bitcoin wallets are not a product of the bitcoin network, which has a very high security level.
One of the responsibilities which comes with decentralization is you are responsible for the safe keeping of your assets: wallets and exchanges you use.

[NeuroticFish]

But it's maybe because there was nothing better than gold, as a store of value, until Bitcoin came.

Gold is only the most common store of value. In the history there were also gemstones or diamonds used as store of value. I think that silver was also before gold.
And nowadays platinum an palladium are also used as store of value.

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

Bitcoin has 2 problems as store of value. One can be "fixed" with knowledge, the other should be fixed by the time.

One problem is its pseudo-anonymous nature. People may not be happy with the idea that the ones trying a bit harder may be able to find out how many Bitcoin they have; people get freaked out when big amounts of Bitcoin get moved around and so on. Of course, with some knowledge and taking care, one can make the Bitcoin not getting tracked to his identity, but many don't possess that knowledge, hence avoid Bitcoin for that task.

Another problem is the market fluctuation. If one faces the risk the value of his wealth can decrease 5 times (!) in a year, he won't be too eager to store value into Bitcoin. (I know that there's also the "risk" his wealth increases 20x in a year, but storing of value and speculation are not in the same risk category).
Don't get me wrong, I believe in Bitcoin and I think that after some more years such volatility may not be possible anymore. But until then we may not be entitled to advertise Bitcoin as a store of value. Not yet.

[bhadz]

How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

I'm not familiar with our law regarding this because I don't even hold any gold but AFAIK there's no limitation. And our country is still in that era where treasure hunters are exploring unvisited places and miners keeps on digging our mountains.

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

This. We all like this, we can be our very own bank.

[hatshepsut93]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

Bitcoin still has its own weaknesses. It remains very new and experimental compared to gold which was around for thousands of years. There's no guarantee that Bitcoin won't get replaced, that there aren't any hidden major flaws (just in the last year a dangerous bug was found, we just got lucky that the good guys did it first), that the underlying cryptography is 100% secure. And being digital is a disadvantage in scenarios like nuclear war.

But overall, volatility remains the biggest weakness, if not for it, Bitcoin would be very competitive with gold, because all the factors that I've mentioned are very unlikely to happen.

[elda34b]

But overall, volatility remains the biggest weakness, if not for it, Bitcoin would be very competitive with gold, because all the factors that I've mentioned are very unlikely to happen.

Volatility is a complex issue imo. Atm Bitcoin is still being viewed as speculative asset I believe, therefore most people try to join the ride and be a millionaire in one night. If Bitcoin get more acknowledgment, this volatility should decrease. But because inflation is part of the fiat system, the price of Bitcoin could rise annually, assuming more people value Bitcoin more and more.

Bitcoin has better advantage compared to gold in term of flexibility, you can exchange it without going out from your house as long as you have connection to the network. Bitcoin has the potential to beat gold, let's give it some time.

[valentin68]

Gold and Bitcoin have advantages and disadvantages.

GOLD has the advantage that it is used for storing value since 6000 years ago. GOLD has the disadvantage that if you invested 10 dollars 6000 years ago , in today value you would have 20-30 dollars.

BITCOIN has the advantage that if you invested 10 dollars in it, 10 years ago, you would have 20 000 000 dollars today. BITCOIN has the disadvantage that it is used to store value since 10 years ago.

[crzy]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

I don’t know if there’sa law here in my place that limting you from owning/storing gold that much, maybe we can own more as much as we can. The private key ownership with bitcoin is great and this is why the government are still on the resistance to adopt bitcoin since they cannot control it. For me, this is way better that gold and its so easy to have this and the function of bitcoin is not just as a storing value, it can also provides good system for an individual or even in a big company.

[BlackPanda]

Wouldn't gold's physical nature be a real weakness because it could cause a "centralization in vaults" problem? How much gold can an individual legally own and store in your homes in your country?

Then there is Bitcoin. It is virtual, and it opens a world of private key ownership, and therefore, true sovereign ownership of private property which governments cannot control.

Each has its strengths and weaknesses. For me we must be able to take advantage of every advantage that exists, gold is a good investment because it is safe and Bitcoin is an attractive investment because of the rapid rate of price increase. We can divide some portions of investment, what I do is invest in gold as much as 30 percent and 70 percent I invest in cryptocurrencies.

[Wong Kalong]

Bitcoin and gold have advantages and disadvantages, but both are assets that deserve to be owned. Bitcoin with a high value and you can use it wisely will bring good luck. Gold has physical and real but is prone to crime, each individual can have it according to their wishes and gold assets are stable.

[szpalata]

Bitcoin and gold have advantages and disadvantages, but both are assets that deserve to be owned. Bitcoin with a high value and you can use it wisely will bring good luck. Gold has physical and real but is prone to crime, each individual can have it according to their wishes and gold assets are stable.

I think they both have their pros and cons and it's purely has to do with our personal choices, a tech-savvy dude might prefer bitcoin over gold and whereas our older generation folks wouldn't trade their gold collection for anything but all in all they both store value and can be profitable in the future if you take the appropriate steps to keep them.