Gold vs bitcoin in a WWIII scenario

[PrivacyG]

My opinion is this.

If a War is coming, FUCK BITCOIN AND GOLD.  Fuck any thing that is only a material.  Make sure you SURVIVE.

During a War, the 'Richest' will be those who have what to eat, drink and a shelter.  If you have a bag of Gold, what do you do with it?  Nothing.  Because if you need something to eat, you will have three options.  Find some body with enough food who is willing to sell part of it and buy it using the Gold you have.  Or barter using something else for the food.  But at that point nothing will be worth much any more, it is World War after all, survival matters most.  Or the immoral option, kill for food and theft.  You probably and hopefully choose the first option among the three.

Well.  In that case.  Do you want to be the guy who has to buy with Gold or the guy who can SELL for Gold?

Growing food in your garden is not as simple as purchasing Seeds.  What do you do if you grow something and weeks later you realize a pest has destroyed over half of the plants.  What do you do if you have animals and they get a disease.  Who is the vet?  Where do you buy medicine or how do you treat the plants?

If you want to be ready for a World War then you will need MUCH more money invested in preparing yourself for it than you imagine.  Because one thing goes wrong and the whole plan is destroyed.

For example.  You can have pretty much EVERY THING needed ready.  You can have even a damn Vet ready and an entire shop with supplies in case plants do bad.  A supermarket too.

But what if a bomb hits your home.  What if an invasion happens.  What do you do.  Where do you go and how do you survive.

The actual question I have to ask is.  Do you really think you have every thing on the list ready so you can worry about Gold and Bitcoin?  Do you really think this should be the priority right now?  If so, then I say Gold.  Who the fuck will care about Bitcoin in case of a War, realistically speaking.  There will likely be no Internet in a lot of the World anyway.  Even if there would be Internet, who would have a Bitcoin Wallet in a War unless Bitcoin somehow magically becomes a Currency used world wide for barter?

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[WeThePe0ple]

Inflation is a constant companion of the modern monetary and financial system, built into the “program” from the very beginning. Consider it a built-in side effect.

Most countries strive for 2% inflation per year, and salaries are supposed to rise to the same extent. Groceries at my local supermarket have gotten 30% more expensive in 2 years. Real estate and gas also surged. But our salaries did not.

Money is a means of exchanging goods and services. Evaluating from this position, bitcoin can't be called money, because for the most part it is used for investment purposes, and not for paying for goods and services. If money doesn't fulfill its function (a means of payment), then how can it be called money?

I can pay my jeweler directly in bitcoin and other crypto assets.
If he gives me gold for BTC, or any other precious metal, I can convert that back to cash. Making bitcoin money.

The essential part of your quote is "for the most part". Because for the part that it isn't, that's what matters. I think that for BTC to be allowed as money, it will have to happen very slowly at first and then suddenly.

What is the honesty of bitcoin? What do you understand by this term?

The fact that governments can not make more of it, causing you to lose purchasing power.

But what if we look at it from a different angle? Maybe it was just money that depreciated by 2 times during that period, and not gold that doubled in price?

Many people say money to currency. Currencies depreciate. Dollars and euros are currencies, but not money.
It's actually pretty hard to accurately define what money is. Aristotle did this. He described money as divisible, durable, portable, and a store of value. Currencies are not stores of value. All of them have failed. Gold never failed because you can't make more of it. Neither can anyone make more bitcoin. But for it to keep value, I think it has to be better accepted as a means of payment.

Anyone here knows that there can only be one investment strategy in bitcoin - just hodl.

Can you tell me why bitcoin is better than XRP? To me, what matters most is that there is a fixed supply.
The amount of XRP tokens is also capped.

[WeThePe0ple]

My opinion is this.

If a War is coming, FUCK BITCOIN AND GOLD.  Fuck any thing that is only a material.  Make sure you SURVIVE.

During a War, the 'Richest' will be those who have what to eat, drink and a shelter. 

The richest in WWII, were the farmers for the reasons you mentioned. My grandfather told me that.
The reason why I got some BTC is not because I want to be a millionaire. It is because I want to protect my savings against inevitable devaluation by central bankers. Euros won't buy me much and when banks fail there is a chance I will not even have access to my own savings.

Farmers in Europe are currently under attack via government regulations from the EU. They are being suffocated by regulations and it seems to me that the EU wants farmers to give up their jobs, so large international companies develop a monopoly.

Imagine WWIII breaking out and there are no farmers. This would be a complete disaster.

[PrivacyG]

Can you tell me why bitcoin is better than XRP?

Centralization versus Decentralization discussions aside, Bitcoin has been the first out there, is the most widely used and in case of a World War if there is one Cryptocurrency people will continue to trust, it will NOT be one that is well known for being Centralized.

Bitcoin will never cease to exist.  Even during a War, it will continue to exist as long as there are people to run a Node and Mine a Block, which there will be.

The reason why I got some BTC is not because I want to be a millionaire. It is because I want to protect my savings against inevitable devaluation by central bankers. Euros won't buy me much and when banks fail there is a chance I will not even have access to my own savings.

I agree entirely with your points of view.  Farmers will do increasingly worse in the following years and I really wonder how the world will look like soon because they are definitely a target.  2030 will be a shitty beginning of an era I realize, and I think every body else slowly does too.

In the case you mentioned.  I do not know if Bitcoin is a better choice than Gold against devaluation.  Not because of the devaluation itself, because Bitcoin has done wonders against inflation so far.  But because of the War.

When the Pandemic has started, Bitcoin has dropped significantly while Gold did the opposite.  This tells me the instinct of the people is still telling them to choose Gold over Bitcoin.  Then the world started realizing there are options to solve the Pandemic situation, and slowly Bitcoin recovered to then show off an All Time High.  I think the same thing happened back when the Ukraine war started too, but I do not remember to be honest with you.

Does this mean Bitcoin would show off an All Time High later on during a Global War too?  I do not know.  This is why it is still way too early to know whether Bitcoin is a good choice in such a dire situation.  So what I would do personally is purchase assets KNOWN to do very well during a War, such as Gold, and invest in Bitcoin only amounts that would not change my life for the worse if lost.  If Bitcoin continues to do All Time Highs during a World War like it did so far, it would probably do such an amazing job Gold would be outclassed.

Why do you think Gold may NOT cover the significant devaluation this time if historically it has done wonders in the past?

[ChiBitCTy]

I think that it may not be correct to say that bitcoin does not help hedge against the “cost” of inflation. It may actually do just that, and has for some time. Now is it as reliable a hedge as gold? Absolutely not.

I think bitcoin would fall in price like most things if there were to be a WW3. But it just depends on how bad things get overall. Let’s hope we never find this out.

[criptoevangelista]

In a catastrophic event such as a third world war, uncensored communication tools and sending money through uncensored media will be essential, if the world really heads towards a third world war, the price of bitcoin will explode to infinity. .. Everyone will want your assets to be safe in the clouds.

In all cases, with or without war, there is nothing to fear.

[Silberman]

I got into bitcoin because I believe that the monetary system is guaranteed to end in hyperinflation.
Bitcoin is honest money, if governments allow it to be that. It is not a hedge against hyperinflation, but it is a more honest substitute for the current monetary system.

While bitcoin is not a hedge against inflation, gold is. The goldprice has a long history of soaring when the monetary system fails.
I have never seen the goldprice crash in times of war, but correct me if I am wrong. During WWII, the gold price doubled.

If the scenario for the coming months and years is that we are heading into WWIII, and I truly believe that we will, what is your investment strategy for crypto? In times of heavy monetary inflation/ war threats I expected the BTC price to soar, just like gold soars. In reality what we have seen is that BTC crashes hard and precious metals soar.

I think I should sell my assets prior to a major war, and buy in after the crash

WWIII will imply at minimum the use of nuclear weapons, so if you are as convinced as you claim this is the scenario we will encounter during the next years, then you better prepare by creating your own personal arc in which you can live isolated from the world for at least a few years until things settle down, personally I do not believe this will happen, and with this in mind I have no problem with holding my bitcoin for as long as I can.

[sunsilk]

[..]It is not a hedge against hyperinflation, but it is a more honest substitute for the current monetary system.

While bitcoin is not a hedge against inflation, gold is. The goldprice has a long history of soaring when the monetary system fails.
[..]

Why not just say that both of them are a good hedge against inflation? You're looking at the long history of gold but why not recognize the short history of Bitcoin from how much it has started up to the present?

what is your investment strategy for crypto?

Bitcoin and a few alts.

In times of heavy monetary inflation/ war threats I expected the BTC price to soar, just like gold soars. In reality what we have seen is that BTC crashes hard and precious metals soar.

Well, I'll make it simple, you cannot carry that heavy load of precious metals when war starts. But with Bitcoin, you can have it with your paper wallet or seed phrase to run wherever you go when every building collapses.

I think I should sell my assets prior to a major war, and buy in after the crash

That might do so that you've got liquid cash.

[legendbtc]

I got into bitcoin because I believe that the monetary system is guaranteed to end in hyperinflation.
Bitcoin is honest money, if governments allow it to be that. It is not a hedge against hyperinflation, but it is a more honest substitute for the current monetary system.

While bitcoin is not a hedge against inflation, gold is. The goldprice has a long history of soaring when the monetary system fails.
I have never seen the goldprice crash in times of war, but correct me if I am wrong. During WWII, the gold price doubled.

If the scenario for the coming months and years is that we are heading into WWIII, and I truly believe that we will, what is your investment strategy for crypto? In times of heavy monetary inflation/ war threats I expected the BTC price to soar, just like gold soars. In reality what we have seen is that BTC crashes hard and precious metals soar.

I think I should sell my assets prior to a major war, and buy in after the crash

WWIII will imply at minimum the use of nuclear weapons, so if you are as convinced as you claim this is the scenario we will encounter during the next years, then you better prepare by creating your own personal arc in which you can live isolated from the world for at least a few years until things settle down, personally I do not believe this will happen, and with this in mind I have no problem with holding my bitcoin for as long as I can.

I also don't believe there will be ww3, I also try to find out the news surrounding the war that many people fear and don't see anything serious about it.

What I'm doing is I'm still aiming for the new ATH that bitcoin will reach this month and next month. I don't care about the news about that war and I just know that those who are scared and sell their bitcoins are the losers. In a bull market there will be strong shakes from the market makers and who sold bitcoin in the past 2 days, my condolences as they will soon buy back bitcoin at a higher price.
Black swans sometimes happen unexpectedly and are unpredictable, but not all news has a negative impact on the market.

[serjent05]

I have never seen the goldprice crash in times of war, but correct me if I am wrong. During WWII, the gold price doubled.

https://onlygold.com/gold-prices/historical-gold-prices/

1939  $35.00
1945  $37.25

I didn't now it before and I'm a bit surprised but gold didn't moved at all during ww2, I knew it started being a thing in 1972 but the before data surprised me.

As the earlier reply explained, gold became a thing when banks started increasing their reserve fund through gold holdings. 

I also think that during the world war III these two form of money will be useless since people would rather have food and clean water on their table to survive.  Gold and Bitcoin transaction might get hindered due to the possibility of internet shutdown for Bitcoin and people would rather have their things exchanged for food than gold.  Or the people will exchange their gold for food to avoid dying from hunger.

In a chaos world people will try to survive first and prioritize basic needs for survival than think of accumulating gold or Bitcoin.

Assuming both monetary system is unhindered, Bitcoin and Gold have their own advantage and disadvantage and the benefits gain from it will be situational since one system covers the tangible part while the other one covers the intangible or digital transaction part.  It is said that gold may have an advantage for short-term needs since one can transact with gold by handing over the gold for payment in face to face trade while Bitcoin can be more indispensable in the long run due to its portability if the infrastructure needed to run the bitcoin system is still in operation.

[passwordnow]

In all cases, with or without war, there is nothing to fear.

If you're prepared, you have nothing to fear but with all of the incidents that are happening there's always a domino effect with it. When the start of Russia and Ukraine has started, the price of oil has increased. Now with Iran and Israel, I'm expecting the same thing. And for someone who has been holding a lot of gold, the only worry is if that person or his vault is located near to the warzone but if it not then there's nothing to worry about.

And as for a Bitcoin holder, there's also nothing to worry about as we're not going to have any problem about how we safekeep our holdings because if you're holding it on a noncustodial wallet, you have your seed phrase. But I also get the idea of keeping it on an exchange but you might have problem based on your citizenship as there could be some bias from that exchange whichever they are supporting and they might lock your funds.

[DanWalker]

In all cases, with or without war, there is nothing to fear.

If you're prepared, you have nothing to fear but with all of the incidents that are happening there's always a domino effect with it. When the start of Russia and Ukraine has started, the price of oil has increased. Now with Iran and Israel, I'm expecting the same thing. And for someone who has been holding a lot of gold, the only worry is if that person or his vault is located near to the warzone but if it not then there's nothing to worry about.

And as for a Bitcoin holder, there's also nothing to worry about as we're not going to have any problem about how we safekeep our holdings because if you're holding it on a noncustodial wallet, you have your seed phrase. But I also get the idea of keeping it on an exchange but you might have problem based on your citizenship as there could be some bias from that exchange whichever they are supporting and they might lock your funds.

But why would you think of storing bitcoins on centralized exchanges when you can store them in non-custodial wallets? I don't understand and that means you're setting yourself up for trouble that you can't foresee. Do you remember when the war between Russia and Ukraine took place, Binance and several exchanges banned Russian users from using their platforms?

It is not a wise decision if you are a citizen of two countries at war, and storing bitcoins on centralized exchanges is not a good idea even if you are an investor normal because of CEX's unpredictable risks.

[yazher]

It depends on what country you are currently residing in because some of the countries will no longer be here with us once WWIII breaks out and most people will also not want to have luxury anymore rather they just want to survive and look for a way out of that disastrous event. Bitcoins will no longer be worth it because no one wants them anymore and so as gold. After all, what matters to them at that time is survivability and they are mostly looking for food and medical kits to survive and also some spacious hideouts that can shield them from the further negative effects of the war which is scarier than the war itself.

[kryptqnick]

Bitcoin isn't susceptible to hyperinflation, but I'd make two notes here. First, being safe from hyperinflation as a currency is very different from ending hyperinflation. Second, Bitcoin can still lose a lot of value, so in effect be similar to a fiat suffering from hyperinflation (at least, temporarily).
In the case of WWIII, I think a lot depends on how things actually go. If it's a war the USA manages to largely avoid, the USD can become even more trusted and valuable (at least, against other fiat currencies). Gold and other non-renewable resources can experience growth in value. If the Internet remains largely available, Bitcoin can rise as well. But if it becomes a kind of war that basically destroys the current global human civilization, none of those things will matter and something different will become a de facto currency (plus barter is likely to be very common).

[Pmalek]

It's pretty weird to think about investing during a world war (if one were to happen). If you are a healthy male under 60-70, you might be fighting in that war on one side or the other. Many countries have nuclear weapons, and if those start flying above our heads, bitcoin, fiat, and gold will be the least of our worries. If you aren't lying dead in a ditch somewhere, you will be paying an arm and a leg for clean water and some food that isn't poisonous.

[pooya87]

Because if it was, bitcoin's price would go up when the money supply increases.
Gold does that, but bitcoin does not.

Then you need to zoom out. Bitcoin is too volatile to analyze over the short term but long term will give you a better outlook. After all bitcoin is worth $65000 to $70000 and this price is reached in only 15 years.

- I think the consequences of war greatly depend on the location of the person. I'm personally located in Belgium. I believe that NATO will end up backing the USA in another war, orchestrated by Israel against Iran and its allies. It's hard for me to guess how we will be affected. I'm thinking rampant inflation.

The effect would be a combination of inflation and shortage.
If the idiots in Washington start a war with Iran, that would be a massive scale war in at least 5 continents, 2 of which are the most energy/resource rich regions that would also affect or completely shut down all international trade routes specifically in the sea (ie. Strait of Hurmuz, Red Sea/Suez Canal, Strait of Gibraltar, and of course the Panama Canal).

Apart from the trade routes shutting down (ie. no more imports) the source of about 40-50% of global energy would be wiped out (eg. Saudi Arabia, Qatar+Bahrain+UAE) in a matter of days since they house US military bases.
The consequences of this won't matter on where you live because it would skyrocket the price of oil (eg. to $1000 a barrel) and that would affect price of everything like groceries.

BTW I seriously doubt NATO (EU members) would back US on such a war. They are neither ready nor capable. As an example read the recent French Captain Henry interview in Le Figaro newspaper. Although he is playing down the situation he explains how they're not ready to face even a small adversary like the poorest Arab country Yemen. They're too far behind in technology, like using 76mm Super Rapid deck gun, aka a 40 year old tech against sophisticated attacks.
The rest of them are even worse!
German Navy decided to join in US adventures a while back. All they managed to do was to shoot down a US aircraft, then set themselves on fire and had to go back home to repair the damage!
Then the British Royal Navy came to help US with their HMS Diamond and after being attacked and incapacitated they too had to run back home.
And that's while I wouldn't even categorize what's going on in the Red Sea as "war"!

[Cryptomultiplier]

It's pretty weird to think about investing during a world war (if one were to happen). If you are a healthy male under 60-70, you might be fighting in that war on one side or the other. Many countries have nuclear weapons, and if those start flying above our heads, bitcoin, fiat, and gold will be the least of our worries. If you aren't lying dead in a ditch somewhere, you will be paying an arm and a leg for clean water and some food that isn't poisonous.

I really don't pray for any wwIII or any war for that matter because it isn't pleasant. Only when there's peace that wealth can grow.
Incase there was a war, I doubt the internet or Blockchain would work properly because of maybe nuclear strikes or military take over of power stations and Internet communication stations.
Gold has always been very valuable when war comes, if you look at history and how the U.S survive some of its long civil wars.

[MainIbem]

Gold doubled after the end of the World War due to banks relying on it, but in our present time, even if 6% of inflation is normal, when a war occurs, this percentage will rise to 30%.
A devastating war will not occur due to the presence of nuclear weapons, which may mean the end of life. Armed conflicts will continue until countries fail and collapse internally, which means that paper money will decrease in value.
Your investment in gold and Bitcoin will be smart because, at the very least, your assets will maintain their value.

From your statement if the gold doubled in the previous world War, because banks were relying on it, it means that if their happen to be another World War the banks could turn to gold again or rather Bitcoin cause i see Bitcoin as a digital gold and it's blockchain makes it easier and faster for carrying out transactions. I think the banks would really need such technology to bounce back faster the outcome of the war. However we do not pray for a devastating war to occur again, despite the recent threat by different war heads and based on the ballistic weapons and nukes I don't think much people would survive on earth it would definitely be the end of the world mate. You are right, anyone who invest in Gold or Bitcoin currently would be making a very good decision they will not regret.

[coolcoinz]

I don't see any advantage of holding gold at this point. Bitcoin has proven to be a quality asset that people and even states gravitate towards, so the chances of it being banned worldwide are very small.
Isn't that what people were mostly afraid of, that they won't let it exist because it goes against centralization and gives people too much freedom and anonymity?

So, why would I want to hold physical gold?
Hard to store
Hard to check its purity, unless you buy from a well known supplier and trust the engravings.
Hard to hide in case of a burglary or search
Hard to carry around (heavy)
Difficult to divide, so pretty much useless as currency in a SHTF scenario.
If you manage to divide it, you'll destroy the engraving, which means the whole bar will lose some of its value.

[hatshepsut93]

Bitcoin is reliant of the Internet and electricity, and during war you might not have access to them. Gold is obviously more reliable in that regard. Also gold would most likely maintain and increase its value, based on past examples, while Bitcoin is most likely to fall, because you can see how Bitcoin tends to react negatively to news that negatively impact global economy.

Bitcoin is honest money, if governments allow it to be that. It is not a hedge against hyperinflation, but it is a more honest substitute for the current monetary system.

Bitcoin is most definitely a hedge against hyperinflation, it will outperform a freefalling currency, it's just not a hedge against low to moderate inflation.