Bitcoin or Gold? What would you pick?

[IamCANADIAN013]

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.

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.

[Nicolas Dorier]

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.

[Dabs]

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.

[bryant.coleman]

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.

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.

[Dabs]

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.

[bryant.coleman]

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 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?

[krishatnet]

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

[ellen_me]

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

[madmadmax]

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.

[Snorek]

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

[HCLivess]

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

[bitcoinforhelp]

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

[umair127]

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

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.

[kekky]

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

[bryant.coleman]

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.

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. 

[Richard213]

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  , cause BTC is still in minority, but i hope it will raise like real gold 

[Beliathon]

I would pick.... mold.

Life is the only true source of value.

[IamCANADIAN013]

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  , cause BTC is still in minority, but i hope it will raise like real gold 

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? 

[lovegood]

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

[FFrost]

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