Bitcoin vs Precious Metals - the final verdict is in.

[larry_vw_1955]

I've been doing a bit of research on this debate and come to a conclusion about which one is better and why.

if it was possible to just buy gold at spot price and sell it at spot price then maybe gold would be a viable way to make money but in the real world, you don't buy some 1 ounce gold coin at spot price. You pay what they call a "premium", a ripoff factor if you will. Apparently some gold coins have a very high premium like if you buy from the US Mint. They could be as high as 50% premium. And when you turn around to sell it to your local coin shop you'll be lucky to get spot price. So just to break even you need gold to go up at least 50% in that scenario.

Of course not every 1 ounce gold coin has such a high premium but they all have premiums. You might pay a 5% premium at your local coin shop. For a $2000 ounce of gold, that is $100 fee. And then when you go and sell maybe another $100 fee.

you're not making money with gold. the only people doing that are the ones buying and selling it at the coin shop.

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

[1714670143]

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[1714670143]

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[1714670143]

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[philipma1957]

I do buy silver steady dca for years.

I have 10  10oz bars
I have  20   5oz bars
I have  27  1oz bars and rounds
I have 100 Morgan and peace dollar


the above weighs 300 plus oz and the value is under 9000 usd.

the downside is it is heavy.

The upside is I keep it in an easy place for thieves to find.

Hopefully they would see it and just say fuck it and leave with just that.

[Charles-Tim]

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

Gold is considered more as a store of value than being an investment. If you want to invest, it is better to invest in bitcoin, its price is more volatile in a way that it is better if you study the price and invest at the right time that can make it a good investment for you and also a store of value in long term.

I do not have big bags and that will let me go for bitcoin for better profit.

In security, bitcoin is better for me. I can hold bitcoin safely and securely without anyone knowing I have it.

[albert0bsd]

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

the same can be said for bitcoin no?, Don't get me wrong i like bitcoin a lot.

The point is that you are not seeing the main point of metals like gold and silver, you don't become rich with them, you only buy then when you don't trust much your fiat money, those and also  bitcoin are considered a medium Store of Value. Those may have their ups and downs.

But it is demonstrated that bitcoin has a better store of value than gold at least in the last 10 years no?

[Bd officer]

<.....>
Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

If it was a competition between Bitcoin vs Precious Metals I would definitely choose Bitcoin. Investing in precious metals gold and silver is much less risky than Bitcoin. I am not telling anyone not to invest in gold or silver. Investing in Bitcoin is riskier than gold at present but I think it is better to invest in Bitcoin. Where I live I have never met anyone who has invested in gold. I have seen many people buy gold ornaments or silver ornaments to use. Those who held gold a few years back have made good profits in the present. But no one could benefit like Bitcoin. I prefer bitcoin to gold.

[mk4]

Gold is mostly being used as a hedge — not something that would make you rich. Like, I don't think anyone in the right mind would think the latter. Bitcoin on the other hand — could become a hedge in the future, but it's still in its early stages hence its high growth(and high risk) nature.

[ancafe]

you're not making money with gold. the only people doing that are the ones buying and selling it at the coin shop.

Gold can also provide profits for you but it takes a very long time and that is why gold is considered a store of value, not an investment like bitcoin which is quite speculative and can provide profits within a certain time.

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

The measure of the level of wealth must be seen from the amount of capital one invests, gold does not provide quick returns and does not make people rich in an instant. But when you keep gold for a long time, it could make someone richer. Talking about the productivity of gold investment is very slow and most people invest gold only as a way to store value.

If you want to see a much more productive investment then Bitcoin is a good choice and we can see profits obtained more quickly compared to investing in gold. But what we need to know is that gold is also an investment that can maintain value in the long term and gold has been the choice of many people in the past.

[larry_vw_1955]

I do buy silver steady dca for years.

I have 10  10oz bars
I have  20   5oz bars
I have  27  1oz bars and rounds
I have 100 Morgan and peace dollar


the above weighs 300 plus oz and the value is under 9000 usd.

what's your average price? if it's higher than today's spot then don't you kind of feel like all that effort was wasted since i could just come along and scoop up just as much silver at an even lower price point?

21.91Bid
22.02Ask
High: 22.04
Low: 21.53

Gold can also provide profits for you but it takes a very long time and that is why gold is considered a store of value, not an investment like bitcoin which is quite speculative and can provide profits within a certain time.

how does a gold investor overcome a 50% buyers premium though and make money? answer: they don't. so what they have to do is try and buy gold that has a smaller premium than 50% but even a 10% premium on the buy and sell side is kind of painful wouldn't you think? i don't see how anyone really makes money with gold except coin shops and dealers. everyone else is just kidding themself.

i was looking at rhodium recently and it had a $1000 spread between the bid and ask.  

i have nothing against precious metals though, i think they're great it's just that i don't think they are setup in a way to help people turn profits in them. but they are fun to own and hold and appreciate their beauty.

[franky1]

gold spot is based on 24k 'pure' 99%+ gold
however many scams show spot priced gold being just 18carat 75%.. or scammy dealers will lie and tell gold sellers their 24k is only 18k(75% pure) to knock down the price the dealer buys at for the dealer to then sell at its true purity price to someone else

with bitcoin 1sat=1sat where the purity(taint) doesnt really change the price per sat.. (though numbskulls have tried to meme scam people into paying more for a sat)

the other thing is if you look at price history
gold
 0                                    $2.1k
  ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
                                   ^
bitcoin
 0                            $69k
  |||||||||||||||||||||||
            ^

if you look at a current valuated stable "bottom" resistance. where gold is $900 (black |)
if you look at a current valuated stable "bottom" resistance. where btc is $21,000 (black |)

and then grade the rest to their all history ATH in green orange red
you will see gold is in the red premium and bitcoin is in the green value ranges

so id be buying btc not gold
there is more upside for btc and more downside for gold

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Gold is mostly being used as a hedge — not something that would make you rich. Like, I don't think anyone in the right mind would think the latter. Bitcoin on the other hand — could become a hedge in the future, but it's still in its early stages hence its high growth(and high risk) nature.

Gold can help you rich if you hold it very long time like 10 years or better 20 to 30 years. Its value increases with time but gold value increase comes from many factors like fiat currency inflation, war and political problems globally that don't usually occur.

Bitcoin can help you rich during shorter period because its design with 4-year halving gives people more emotion to be late and they feel more reasons to hop on before it is too late. In addition, the convenience from Bitcoin blockchain is surely better than physical gold bars. Even people can trade gold, they will have to rely on banks, vaults that less secured than Bitcoin blockchain.

Controlled supply
How is the 21 Million Bitcoin Cap Defined and Enforced?
Two above resources are informative to understand about Bitcoin controlled supply and how it will continue to be released in future as designed by Satoshi Nakamoto.

[bitzizzix]

Both are good options in terms of investment, but when it comes to getting rich, Bitcoin is more promising. Gold tends to have a stable price and is very slow to rise and takes a very long time to generate decent profits, and Bitcoin will always provide profits without a certain time limit, especially in the long term which will definitely provide much better profits compared to gold , it can even make us rich.
And although gold can retain its value, people are more likely to store their wealth in Bitcoin, because Botcoin maintains its value and also increases its value, and better than other assets, in the medium and long term, it is much more profitable.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

What the OP says is right and we should add those who buy costume jewellery thinking it is a good investment. It's one thing to buy it because your wife likes it, or you like wearing a gold chain, for example, but in that 'liking' there is a component of thinking that what you are wearing is worth it. And indeed what you are wearing, if it is a gold chain for example, has a value, but if you are going to sell it you will still get much less than the price you bought it for because you will be paid at the price of melted gold. It is far worse than the example of a one ounce gold coin given by the OP.

[larry_vw_1955]

And indeed what you are wearing, if it is a gold chain for example, has a value, but if you are going to sell it you will still get much less than the price you bought it for because you will be paid at the price of melted gold. It is far worse than the example of a one ounce gold coin given by the OP.

yeah exactly i didn't think about that but any type of jewelry you might be stuck at the melting price they pay. as i said, the only people making money on gold are the pawn shops and dealers. the public is just there for them to use as a profit center. unfortunate as that is. luckily bitcoin isn't quite like that. because if it was, it would really be bad!

gold spot is based on 24k 'pure' 99%+ gold

unfortunately most people dont have anyway of knowing what type of gold they have. that's another issue with gold. with bitcoin, you don't have that type of issue of trust.

however many scams show spot priced gold being just 18carat 75%.. or scammy dealers will lie and tell gold sellers their 24k is only 18k(75% pure) to knock down the price the dealer buys at for the dealer to then sell at its true purity price to someone else

that's why you have to have expensive test equipment to see what type of gold bar it is. which again, most hobby investors don't have. so it better be packaged really nice and unopened so they can believe it is legit...and they'll google the company who supposedly made it. but you can't let them open up the packaging and put acid on it or drill a small hole in it. that would destroy its value.

so id be buying btc not gold
there is more upside for btc and more downside for gold

based on your analysis, i would say that is a very fair statement.

[DapanasFruit]

The real or physical gold has had been around for so long and with its inherent value many consider it to be a very safe haven especially on times of distress and economic turmoil. Now, with the coming of Bitcoin, people are presented with a digital alternative to gold. There is no need for transport or safekeeping as Bitcoin has no physical presence - however you can be hacked so be careful and follow the safety protocol all the time. Right now, you can make money with gold trading where you don't have to really own the gold but for people who love the idea of holding Bitcoin is unbeatable in terms of convenience and possible return or ROI.

[Plaguedeath]

Another bad thing in precious metal there's a chance of being scammed, someone might tell you it's a real gold, but it turns you're get a fake gold. Even you're already experienced in this asset, you could still get scammed since the difference of real gold and fake gold isn't really obvious.

While Bitcoin, it's really obvious to see someone wanted to scam using few ways e.g. unconfirmed transaction without RBF feature (easily to check via mempool.space), using testnet Bitcoin (the address start with t), fake/fork BTC that using their own network can't be viewed in BTC explorer etc.

[letteredhub]

I've been doing a bit of research on this debate and come to a conclusion about which one is better and why.

if it was possible to just buy gold at spot price and sell it at spot price then maybe gold would be a viable way to make money but in the real world, you don't buy some 1 ounce gold coin at spot price. You pay what they call a "premium", a ripoff factor if you will. Apparently some gold coins have a very high premium like if you buy from the US Mint. They could be as high as 50% premium. And when you turn around to sell it to your local coin shop you'll be lucky to get spot price. So just to break even you need gold to go up at least 50% in that scenario.

Of course not every 1 ounce gold coin has such a high premium but they all have premiums. You might pay a 5% premium at your local coin shop. For a $2000 ounce of gold, that is $100 fee. And then when you go and sell maybe another $100 fee.

you're not making money with gold. the only people doing that are the ones buying and selling it at the coin shop.

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

Op you make it sound as if buying precious metal like gold or silver is a useless thing to do or a waste of money. And I don't understand why.

For people living in countries with a weak fiat currency that gets devaluation concurrently due to the inflation spike an alternative to keep the money value stable is by buying a precious metal like gold to retain value for as long as you want to keep it for sell. Gold protects you from losing your wealth under a deflating economy that when other person's are worried about their money losing value you are exempted in the loss.

Actually, bitcoin and gold both retains value but if it's for investment purpose that's when bitcoin should be taken as a better alternative.  For portability, seamless movement and transfer without having to leave your location bitcoin is an excellent choice. In all it's still depends on the risk you're ready to take in keeping the value of your fiat money from falling.

[mk4]

Gold is mostly being used as a hedge — not something that would make you rich. Like, I don't think anyone in the right mind would think the latter. Bitcoin on the other hand — could become a hedge in the future, but it's still in its early stages hence its high growth(and high risk) nature.

Gold can help you rich if you hold it very long time like 10 years or better 20 to 30 years. Its value increases with time but gold value increase comes from many factors like fiat currency inflation, war and political problems globally that don't usually occur.

Bitcoin can help you rich during shorter period because its design with 4-year halving gives people more emotion to be late and they feel more reasons to hop on before it is too late. In addition, the convenience from Bitcoin blockchain is surely better than physical gold bars. Even people can trade gold, they will have to rely on banks, vaults that less secured than Bitcoin blockchain.

Controlled supply
How is the 21 Million Bitcoin Cap Defined and Enforced?
Two above resources are informative to understand about Bitcoin controlled supply and how it will continue to be released in future as designed by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Gold is only up 400% in 30 years, and performed a mediocre 40% in 10 years. Not sure if that amount of gains can necessarily make most people rich(definitely not), but it surely somewhat did protect people's wealth in those timespans.

[jasonjm]

Precious metals are used as a hedge against inflation and as a store of value. Gold and silver are mostly used for this purpose. Bitcoin is more of an investment and gives you a significantly high return on investment compared to other asset classes. It is better to store your profit in Gold, Silver or Platinum to help fight currency devaluation and inflation.
Invest in Bitcoin, make a profit, and store the profit in Gold and silver.

[Gallar]

The debate between bitcoin and precious metals such as gold or silver actually really depends on how we respons it. Because for me personally, bitcoin or precious metals like gold are both very good assets. So to conclude which is the best, I think it's all very relative. Because these assets have their respective advantages and disadvantages. So I personally cannot conclude which is the best among these assets. I prefer to be neutral in this comparison or debate. Because currently I am also investing in these assets. And so far, I don't feel any strangeness or negative feelings towards the asset.

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

Indeed, if you look at the movement of gold prices, it is indeed very slow. It takes tens or decades to get sizable profits. But for me personally, this is not a problem. Even though it takes quite a long time, I have considered this carefully. Besides, if you say no one gets rich through gold, I don't think you're right. Because if your opinion is correct, then gold will not be an asset known to humans throughout the world.

Because you need to know, in the country where I live, quite a few people get rich through gold. Even though they don't come from investment channels, they can get rich through gold. And this is obtained from mining gold independently. Because in my country, if you study gold mining seriously. There are many places where the soil or rocks contain gold. So if used well, the opportunity to gain profits will be very large.

[BenCodie]

you're not making money with gold. the only people doing that are the ones buying and selling it at the coin shop.

Gold is not going to make someone rich. How many people have you ever seen that say "investing in gold made me rich"? None!

People don't (or at least shouldn't be, as you've highlighted) buy gold to make money. Maybe silver has the potential to make money in an explosive inflationary scenario....however that's another topic. People buy these metals to store value, in the event that money is not worth anything anymore.

Gold and silver still have their place as store of value's. In the event that a monetary catastrophe happens, where liquidity dries up for all assets and the ability to transact digital currencies somehow becomes limited severely, these will prevail. Even when Bitcoin is not prohibited, these store of value precious metals will still serve as hedges against the failing reserve currencies. I believe that is their primary investment purpose, rather than trading for profit as you suggest.