The History of Gold and Silver Points to the future of Cryptocurrency

[andriarto]

Gold bugs definitely feel threatened by crypto:

https://www.ccn.com/world-gold-council-blinks-bitcoin

Gold may have a value of $7.8 trillion, but it isn’t happy about giving any of that up to bitcoin, the latter of which has a market cap of $97.2 billion. A day after Grayscale unleashed its “Drop Gold promotion, a TV commercial that garnered 100,000 views in less than 24 hours, the World Gold Council is clapping back. Gold’s reputation as a store of value has gone pretty much uncontested for thousands of years – until bitcoin, which has earned the reputation as digital gold in addition to its use case as a currency.

In a tweet, the Council stated:

    “Cryptocurrencies are no replacement for gold.”

The World Gold Council didn’t stop there and published a blog outlining the features differentiating the precious metal from cryptocurrencies. They state:

    “Although cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology look promising as a whole, they clearly do not represent a substitute for gold either in theory or in practice.”

Basically, they suggest gold is better for the following reasons:

    less volatility
    greater liquidity
    a more “established regulatory framework.”

Touche. Yet they acknowledge bitcoin only has a 10-year history while gold has been around since 600 B.C. Bitcoin’s share of the store-of-value pie is only going to expand. Meanwhile, volatility remains a function of the extreme views surrounding the digital currency, both for its ascent and its demise.
gold

The big question is whether some holders of gold will diversify into crypto "just in case". From a risk management point of view, diversification makes sense.

No one should be threatened by Bitcoin. Bitcoin will solely point to why current financial system sucks and make value of gold way higher in the future. Yes right now it takes some shine away off the Golds, but that is just temporary. What I like most recently is that people, institutions and governments are realizing that if they dont hold their gold is not really their gold. 

bitcoin seems to emerge and provide the right solution for the future with its decentralized system. this system is very contrary to the current system, so it requires a long process to be accepted by most governments. while gold will remain the prima donna to save property

[Yutikas_11920]

No idea what fiat is..

Fiat to me is the bridge between material and financial valuation. Fiat create value to our access. In other words, even bitcoin, gold, silver and other materials and mineral resources have their value in fiat.

it's true that the problem is that bitcoin, silver and gold if there is no fiat currency that cannot be converted into money, so fiat was created to access our finances

I think currently only a few countries can apply fiat to exchange bitcoins because there are still no clear regulations for exchanging bitcoins with fiat in certain countries which are still being restricted.

[millgates]

I wrote the following in a discussion about gold and silver standards on another board.  Enjoy!

---------------------------------------------------

Clear eyes, my friends, clear eyes.  Over the long term, judge the true nature of a system by its fruits, not by the words attached to it, especially those uttered by central banks.

Did the dollar and other state currencies retain their values in gold or silver?  No.

Did the bankers and politicians create lots of money and debt under the standards?  Yes.

Did the gold and silver standards suppress the currency price of precious metals temporarily?  Yes, by definition, the currency price of gold/silver was fixed.

Did the elites keep installing this system over 300+ years, knowing it had 'failed' and would 'fail' everywhere?  Probably.  England's financial inflation was out of control less than ten years after the Bank of England was founded in 1690.  (It's not as if the elites have been inexperienced!)

Given this history, you have to forgive me for engaging in the wild, conspiracy-theory-nutsy speculation that, juuuuuuuuuuuuust perhaps, the elites used the metallic standards to prop up paper money and debt so they could create more of them.

Gold and silver standards did work as designed, however, when, after the bursting of a financial bubble, it was time to transfer most of the pain to the public, and away from the elites who had created the bubble in the first place, by choking the money supply, in the name of safeguarding the gold/silver standard and upholding the moral commitment to redeem paper for the same amount of gold or silver.  (Their golden goose system would have lost credibility fast if they had chosen devaluation/inflation as a response to the crisis -- i.e. they would have paid the price for the bubble.)

Absolutely brilliant.  (In reality, 'fiat money' is not worthy enough to tie the shoes of the gold standard, from the elites' point of view.  That's why, most likely, it won't last, and we're going back to something like the gold standard, except with multiple 'hard monies,' including Bitcoin.)

And true, there is no free market in money in this world.  That was my point (in response to the claim that the dollar is world reserve currency because of supply and demand.)

We should count ourselves lucky for being born in the narrow window of history when the elites lost control.  Do not lose the opportunity to profit spectacularly from it.

The paper money don't have intrinsic value, although many people said that the cost to make a paper money is quite high but it is just a paper. Even many trees has been cutting for paper money creation. It is not good for our earth. I think we will replace paper money with gold and silver. And we will use cryptocurrency for our digital transaction. The value of gold and silver are fixed, I agree about this.

[Ozero]

I do not see that with the advent of cryptocurrency, something should change significantly in financial relations in society. Cryptocurrency will be another form of cashless payments and, most likely, will find its wide application among citizens. Whether the business structure will use the cryptocurrency in large quantities will largely depend on the results of legalization.

[Febo]

Gold bugs definitely feel threatened by crypto:

https://www.ccn.com/world-gold-council-blinks-bitcoin

Gold may have a value of $7.8 trillion, but it isn’t happy about giving any of that up to bitcoin, the latter of which has a market cap of $97.2 billion. A day after Grayscale unleashed its “Drop Gold promotion, a TV commercial that garnered 100,000 views in less than 24 hours, the World Gold Council is clapping back. Gold’s reputation as a store of value has gone pretty much uncontested for thousands of years – until bitcoin, which has earned the reputation as digital gold in addition to its use case as a currency.

In a tweet, the Council stated:

    “Cryptocurrencies are no replacement for gold.”

The World Gold Council didn’t stop there and published a blog outlining the features differentiating the precious metal from cryptocurrencies. They state:

    “Although cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology look promising as a whole, they clearly do not represent a substitute for gold either in theory or in practice.”

Basically, they suggest gold is better for the following reasons:

    less volatility
    greater liquidity
    a more “established regulatory framework.”

Touche. Yet they acknowledge bitcoin only has a 10-year history while gold has been around since 600 B.C. Bitcoin’s share of the store-of-value pie is only going to expand. Meanwhile, volatility remains a function of the extreme views surrounding the digital currency, both for its ascent and its demise.
gold

The big question is whether some holders of gold will diversify into crypto "just in case". From a risk management point of view, diversification makes sense.

No one should be threatened by Bitcoin. Bitcoin will solely point to why current financial system sucks and make value of gold way higher in the future. Yes right now it takes some shine away off the Golds, but that is just temporary. What I like most recently is that people, institutions and governments are realizing that if they dont hold their gold is not really their gold. 

bitcoin seems to emerge and provide the right solution for the future with its decentralized system. this system is very contrary to the current system, so it requires a long process to be accepted by most governments. while gold will remain the prima donna to save property

Gold will not only remain. But Gold will gain a lot more in upcoming years and decades.

[Ayiranorea]

Gold bugs definitely feel threatened by crypto:

https://www.ccn.com/world-gold-council-blinks-bitcoin

Gold may have a value of $7.8 trillion, but it isn’t happy about giving any of that up to bitcoin, the latter of which has a market cap of $97.2 billion. A day after Grayscale unleashed its “Drop Gold promotion, a TV commercial that garnered 100,000 views in less than 24 hours, the World Gold Council is clapping back. Gold’s reputation as a store of value has gone pretty much uncontested for thousands of years – until bitcoin, which has earned the reputation as digital gold in addition to its use case as a currency.

In a tweet, the Council stated:

    “Cryptocurrencies are no replacement for gold.”

The World Gold Council didn’t stop there and published a blog outlining the features differentiating the precious metal from cryptocurrencies. They state:

    “Although cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology look promising as a whole, they clearly do not represent a substitute for gold either in theory or in practice.”

Basically, they suggest gold is better for the following reasons:

    less volatility
    greater liquidity
    a more “established regulatory framework.”

Touche. Yet they acknowledge bitcoin only has a 10-year history while gold has been around since 600 B.C. Bitcoin’s share of the store-of-value pie is only going to expand. Meanwhile, volatility remains a function of the extreme views surrounding the digital currency, both for its ascent and its demise.
gold

The big question is whether some holders of gold will diversify into crypto "just in case". From a risk management point of view, diversification makes sense.

No one should be threatened by Bitcoin. Bitcoin will solely point to why current financial system sucks and make value of gold way higher in the future. Yes right now it takes some shine away off the Golds, but that is just temporary. What I like most recently is that people, institutions and governments are realizing that if they dont hold their gold is not really their gold. 

bitcoin seems to emerge and provide the right solution for the future with its decentralized system. this system is very contrary to the current system, so it requires a long process to be accepted by most governments. while gold will remain the prima donna to save property

Gold will not only remain. But Gold will gain a lot more in upcoming years and decades.

If every country regulate the usage of cryptocurrencies there is a possibility for an existence of cryptocurrencies with gold backing to provide added security to the asset we hold through a decentralized medium. Gold will always serve as a trusted source making it remain for decades.

[SirLancelot]

Gold bugs definitely feel threatened by crypto:

https://www.ccn.com/world-gold-council-blinks-bitcoin

Gold may have a value of $7.8 trillion, but it isn’t happy about giving any of that up to bitcoin, the latter of which has a market cap of $97.2 billion. A day after Grayscale unleashed its “Drop Gold promotion, a TV commercial that garnered 100,000 views in less than 24 hours, the World Gold Council is clapping back. Gold’s reputation as a store of value has gone pretty much uncontested for thousands of years – until bitcoin, which has earned the reputation as digital gold in addition to its use case as a currency.

In a tweet, the Council stated:

    “Cryptocurrencies are no replacement for gold.”

The World Gold Council didn’t stop there and published a blog outlining the features differentiating the precious metal from cryptocurrencies. They state:

    “Although cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology look promising as a whole, they clearly do not represent a substitute for gold either in theory or in practice.”

Basically, they suggest gold is better for the following reasons:

    less volatility
    greater liquidity
    a more “established regulatory framework.”

Touche. Yet they acknowledge bitcoin only has a 10-year history while gold has been around since 600 B.C. Bitcoin’s share of the store-of-value pie is only going to expand. Meanwhile, volatility remains a function of the extreme views surrounding the digital currency, both for its ascent and its demise.
gold

The big question is whether some holders of gold will diversify into crypto "just in case". From a risk management point of view, diversification makes sense.

No one should be threatened by Bitcoin. Bitcoin will solely point to why current financial system sucks and make value of gold way higher in the future. Yes right now it takes some shine away off the Golds, but that is just temporary. What I like most recently is that people, institutions and governments are realizing that if they dont hold their gold is not really their gold. 

bitcoin seems to emerge and provide the right solution for the future with its decentralized system. this system is very contrary to the current system, so it requires a long process to be accepted by most governments. while gold will remain the prima donna to save property

Gold will not only remain. But Gold will gain a lot more in upcoming years and decades.

That is because gold is one of the precious metal which is not in excess which means the supply is limited whereas the demand is constantly rising up with the time interval so there is no doubt that the gold markets is going to have immense growth in the coming years but this could also be compared to cryptocurrencies. Even the supply for cryptocurrencies is turning out to be limited in front of the huge number of peoples who are investing into. The markets for cryptocurrencies too would cherish in the future if any of the government does not entangle with them. There are huge profits for the ones who invest into the right markets at the right time.

[GregH37]

They fail to admit cryptocurrencies can be an alternative adapted to the demand or to the current state of the economy. If there is a demand you can't stop that unless you disgust people from it. (What they can do with all the articles published bashing Bitcoin.)

But more the demand increases and more the ecosystem replies to the demand and this is an organic growth. "established regulatory framework" people got tired with this because this is never for the customers benefit, and this is one of the reasons we try to leave the fiat system their dictature framework.

You will have people who will use it as a currency, a store of value, knowing its volatility

Cryptocurrency is a system that has come to stay globally and will continue to be on the rise even if the government does not support it. Those who have failed to realize that crypto can be used as tool to solve part of the economy challenge of the state will soon be shocked by the way it will find its way to give a solution to their problem even without their interference.

I am sure many people that would have benefit in the long-term when gold was first introduced but rejected it would be biting their fingers now wherever they are, although they would have been dead by now, we should not be like those people, this is another gold opportunity that has presented itself for us to grab as quick as possible, so that we don’t join the group of people that will be regretting in the future for not buying into cryptocurrency.

[d1ceplayer]

No idea what fiat is..

Fiat to me is the bridge between material and financial valuation. Fiat create value to our access. In other words, even bitcoin, gold, silver and other materials and mineral resources have their value in fiat.

it's true that the problem is that bitcoin, silver and gold if there is no fiat currency that cannot be converted into money, so fiat was created to access our finances

I think currently only a few countries can apply fiat to exchange bitcoins because there are still no clear regulations for exchanging bitcoins with fiat in certain countries which are still being restricted.

This really is a serious issue until now as most of the countries are yet not ready to accept bitcoins as a mean of regulation. Also there are some governments from various countries which are trying to shut down the crypto markets which is really affecting the growth of bitcoins. Once bitcoins are passed from such issues then there will be a huge growth in them as there will be no serious obstacle coming in between the growth of the cryptocurrencies. There are some petitions going on with most of the governments so thinking positively, we can expect a legalised future for cryptocurrencies in each major country.

[Whosdaddy]

No idea what fiat is..

Fiat to me is the bridge between material and financial valuation. Fiat create value to our access. In other words, even bitcoin, gold, silver and other materials and mineral resources have their value in fiat.

it's true that the problem is that bitcoin, silver and gold if there is no fiat currency that cannot be converted into money, so fiat was created to access our finances

I think currently only a few countries can apply fiat to exchange bitcoins because there are still no clear regulations for exchanging bitcoins with fiat in certain countries which are still being restricted.

This really is a serious issue until now as most of the countries are yet not ready to accept bitcoins as a mean of regulation. Also there are some governments from various countries which are trying to shut down the crypto markets which is really affecting the growth of bitcoins. Once bitcoins are passed from such issues then there will be a huge growth in them as there will be no serious obstacle coming in between the growth of the cryptocurrencies. There are some petitions going on with most of the governments so thinking positively, we can expect a legalised future for cryptocurrencies in each major country.

Those countries are just scared of cryptocurrency because they see it as something that can take power away from them, most government gets their wealth from tax on citizen’s income, at least majority of their income which they use part for investment to make more money into their reserve, now that they cannot know exactly what a citizen that use cryptocurrency for business transaction makes, they will rather go against it completely, but sooner than later, they will have no choice than to legalese it because the benefit of cryptocurrency to their economy is more than the disadvantage of it.

[BobK71]

Uuhm...whatever, it still doesn't change the fact that fiat (current monetary system) will still remaining what it is, nothing is going to change that. Gold and the rest of them, including bitcoin, are all assets/stocks...

I agree.  But remember that under the gold standard, paper money circulated alongside gold coins.  And the majority of money in circulation was paper.

Now there is a difference in the stories told by the elites.  But we have to remember that these stories are/were designed to fool the public.  The old story was 'gold is money, and paper is debt payable in gold by the central bank.'  The new story will be 'when cryptos go up, it is a sign that savers stopped trusting the government and central bank, and we have to change policy, i.e. stop issuing so much money and debt.'

If you think about it, the two stories will amount to basically the same system, on the ground.  (The proof is left to you as homework!)

[LeGaulois]

Uuhm...whatever, it still doesn't change the fact that fiat (current monetary system) will still remaining what it is, nothing is going to change that. Gold and the rest of them, including bitcoin, are all assets/stocks...

I agree.  But remember that under the gold standard, paper money circulated alongside gold coins.  And the majority of money in circulation was paper.

Now there is a difference in the stories told by the elites.  But we have to remember that these stories are/were designed to fool the public.  The old story was 'gold is money, and paper is debt payable in gold by the central bank.'  The new story will be 'when cryptos go up, it is a sign that savers stopped trusting the government and central bank, and we have to change policy, i.e. stop issuing so much money and debt.'

If you think about it, the two stories will amount to basically the same system, on the ground.  (The proof is left to you as homework!)

Possible. The value of a currency is based on trust, if people stop to trust the dollar, for example, what do you think it's going to happen?
Now thinking people will stop to trust USD and now trust only BTC can only happen in a cartoon TV show.

Even if we admit the current system is a failure, how do you want to 'reset' it with Bitcoin? And it's something that can't be done within a year.

[STT]

Its not just the dollar.   The dollar is part of the global reserve system and that whole body of exchange between countries is based off credit and debt with influence from politics.     The far older system was a method of exchanging goods and currency was most gold based which is a commodity so it was not especially liable to credit as the base unit must at some point be exchanged.

Our current system allows countries to just endlessly produce more of their debt to exchange for goods, the value of that debt is questionable especially where its never repaid.

To switch over to Bitcoin it would require not just an end to the dollar but the whole system of debt as money.  It would require that actual trade is the basis for world currency and exchange between countries.   Thats a far bigger change then just swapping dollar for another similar named type of paper.   What I think happens next is that dollar goes and we have another FIAT paper system replace it, possibly it will include a bailout of the US debt that was not repayable otherwise.    
This would not be new it would just be similar to the Greek bailout but on a larger scale.   So at first I expect a repeat of the past, then if that fails we might get something new.   Bitcoin has alot to prove to be a bigger replacement rather just a side road off main street

[bonker]

I wrote the following in a discussion about gold and silver standards on another board.  Enjoy!

---------------------------------------------------

Clear eyes, my friends, clear eyes.  Over the long term, judge the true nature of a system by its fruits, not by the words attached to it, especially those uttered by central banks.

Did the dollar and other state currencies retain their values in gold or silver?  No.

Did the bankers and politicians create lots of money and debt under the standards?  Yes.

Did the gold and silver standards suppress the currency price of precious metals temporarily?  Yes, by definition, the currency price of gold/silver was fixed.

Did the elites keep installing this system over 300+ years, knowing it had 'failed' and would 'fail' everywhere?  Probably.  England's financial inflation was out of control less than ten years after the Bank of England was founded in 1690.  (It's not as if the elites have been inexperienced!)

Given this history, you have to forgive me for engaging in the wild, conspiracy-theory-nutsy speculation that, juuuuuuuuuuuuust perhaps, the elites used the metallic standards to prop up paper money and debt so they could create more of them.

Gold and silver standards did work as designed, however, when, after the bursting of a financial bubble, it was time to transfer most of the pain to the public, and away from the elites who had created the bubble in the first place, by choking the money supply, in the name of safeguarding the gold/silver standard and upholding the moral commitment to redeem paper for the same amount of gold or silver.  (Their golden goose system would have lost credibility fast if they had chosen devaluation/inflation as a response to the crisis -- i.e. they would have paid the price for the bubble.)

Absolutely brilliant.  (In reality, 'fiat money' is not worthy enough to tie the shoes of the gold standard, from the elites' point of view.  That's why, most likely, it won't last, and we're going back to something like the gold standard, except with multiple 'hard monies,' including Bitcoin.)

And true, there is no free market in money in this world.  That was my point (in response to the claim that the dollar is world reserve currency because of supply and demand.)

We should count ourselves lucky for being born in the narrow window of history when the elites lost control.  Do not lose the opportunity to profit spectacularly from it.

yes I agree always your statement we are blessed to live in this situation especially after the entry of cryptocurrency we have lots of opportunity to get lots of income that's why I accept your topic will be more useful for the life of everyone

[BobK71]

Uuhm...whatever, it still doesn't change the fact that fiat (current monetary system) will still remaining what it is, nothing is going to change that. Gold and the rest of them, including bitcoin, are all assets/stocks...

I agree.  But remember that under the gold standard, paper money circulated alongside gold coins.  And the majority of money in circulation was paper.

Now there is a difference in the stories told by the elites.  But we have to remember that these stories are/were designed to fool the public.  The old story was 'gold is money, and paper is debt payable in gold by the central bank.'  The new story will be 'when cryptos go up, it is a sign that savers stopped trusting the government and central bank, and we have to change policy, i.e. stop issuing so much money and debt.'

If you think about it, the two stories will amount to basically the same system, on the ground.  (The proof is left to you as homework!)

Possible. The value of a currency is based on trust, if people stop to trust the dollar, for example, what do you think it's going to happen?
Now thinking people will stop to trust USD and now trust only BTC can only happen in a cartoon TV show.

Even if we admit the current system is a failure, how do you want to 'reset' it with Bitcoin? And it's something that can't be done within a year.

I believe I didn't clarify enough, that my argument was that, most likely, both dollars and Bitcoin will be viable.  (It's not one or the other.)  But the key question is exchange rate.  When dollars are over-issued, the authorities will have to allow Bitcoin to appreciate in $ terms, to a level that is now defendable from their point of view.  If and when this is the case, it will be not really different from a flexible form of the gold or silver standard.

[Kasabus]

Uuhm...whatever, it still doesn't change the fact that fiat (current monetary system) will still remaining what it is, nothing is going to change that. Gold and the rest of them, including bitcoin, are all assets/stocks...

I agree.  But remember that under the gold standard, paper money circulated alongside gold coins.  And the majority of money in circulation was paper.

Now there is a difference in the stories told by the elites.  But we have to remember that these stories are/were designed to fool the public.  The old story was 'gold is money, and paper is debt payable in gold by the central bank.'  The new story will be 'when cryptos go up, it is a sign that savers stopped trusting the government and central bank, and we have to change policy, i.e. stop issuing so much money and debt.'

If you think about it, the two stories will amount to basically the same system, on the ground.  (The proof is left to you as homework!)

Possible. The value of a currency is based on trust, if people stop to trust the dollar, for example, what do you think it's going to happen?
Now thinking people will stop to trust USD and now trust only BTC can only happen in a cartoon TV show.

Even if we admit the current system is a failure, how do you want to 'reset' it with Bitcoin? And it's something that can't be done within a year.

Bitcoin is another form of currency that is decentralized and has no authority to follow. While it is in the process of its development,  USD will continue to be the main currency even if we keep on seeing how incapable it is. Gold and silver are still in the market today but if we compare them to bitcoin, there's no doubt that bitcoin has its highest value among them all.

[STT]

Bitcoin has a lower market capitalisation then gold silver or any precious commodity.   Its very much the new comer, much to prove and with extreme growth potential beyond the belief of many; despite being around a decade.

I worked in tech and telecoms in the 90's through the dotcom boom and though the whole phenomena which was acknowledged as world changing, it was in potential not in actual business by majority done. It was speculative and the dot com boom famously blew up and 'failed' though we realise now the tech was perfectly fine and has become vital to society; now completely obvious with this virus distant working etc.

Ditto with Crypto it will overcook, it will be doubted and for many years onwards for quite a few its just going to be a virtual idea more then a practical tool for many maybe the majority of the world.   I do believe its going to formulate part of the economy in decades forward and hopefully become vital to value transactions.   USD is coming to an end, its failing as a monetary standard are quite clear so its important but I think the decline is also likely required for society world wide to find a better system of less bias and political compromise.   I hope BTC can serve trade but if not crypto will develop further until it achieves this.

The way that ties into Gold for me is this product is not compromised or changed in recent years.   I dont see gold as in decline as the basic value asset it has been for hundreds of year.   However its not going to develop and have growth that crypto should do, so gold price will be rising over years but mostly as dollar fails to hold value.
  All real currency is decentralised, capitalism is decentralised not a system such as kings or giant governments that we had previous and have now.  So crypto fits decentralised exchange of value and also gold will continue to do so also, neither eclipses the other.   Value is always with the people, the rest is about tax and the fight for control over people who wish to be free.