Compared to Bitcoin, gold doesn't seem real...

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

Compared to Bitcoin gold doesn't seem real... secure. Sure you can keep it in a vault, but then you can't spend it. If you do carry it around, it's far more noticeable for robbers to steal than cash because it's heavier. It's harder to hide in your home because of metal detectors. Even vaults aren't safe without armed guards, which are expensive and sometimes untrustworthy. Bitcoin can be secured in ways that are impossible to steal, even under duress with five dollar wrenches. That way, they can't even be stolen by home invaders. Bitcoin may be volatile, but gold can be easily stolen. They are easily hidden and layered with decoys. They can be time locked better than any bank vault. Bitcoins can protect some of your wealth even when you are wrongfully judged by an imperfect society. With Bitcoin, you can travel the world and know your wealth is secure. You can have much faster access to liquidity with Bitcoin if you really need it. Bitcoin just makes you feel so much more secure. It makes you feel like credit cards used to before all the identity theft and privacy issues. Why would anyone feel personally secure with gold?

Bitcoin is Gold 2.0

The future is real...cool

[TippingPoint]

If you buy some, it will probably seem real.  The market for gold is much larger.  It has greater liquidity.

I had some gold jewelry stolen from me once. Does that count?

It counts.  But jewelry is at a higher risk of being stolen.  It is advertised wealth.

[cbeast]

If you buy some, it will probably seem real.  The market for gold is much larger.  It has greater liquidity.

I had some gold jewelry stolen from me once. Does that count?

It counts.  But jewelry is at a higher risk of being stolen.  It is advertised wealth.

Actually they were hidden in my home and I hadn't worn them in years. Nobody knew I had them. Nothing else was stolen. The thief only wanted the gold jewelry. I suspect it was someone that I use to know.

I later had a laptop stolen with bitcoin wallets on it. They were encrypted and backed up.

[Buffer Overflow]

I can't backup gold.

[Melbustus]

...while I've already lost loads of data because of hard disk failures.

Sounds like you're doing it wrong.

It's *far* easier (and cheaper) to secure (and transport) non-trivial quantities of bitcoin than non-trivial quantities of gold, for all the reasons OP noted. Dismissing all those reasons because *you* are not good at backing up your own data does not refute anything.

Whatever.  Gold is much more secure.  I also have gold in a safe deposit box that hasn't been touched for years.  

Bitcoin on the other hand, I've had stolen/hacked in several instances.  

Secondly, is that how you're going to pitch bitcoin to the masses?  If you get robbed it's your fault?  How often is robbery the victim's fault?  

Spare me.

Sure, bitcoin is more secure if you're potential attacker/thief is some government entity or you're delusional.  Otherwise, as it currently stands, for most people, gold is more secure.  I can have gold in my room right now and if someone wants to steal it, they have to come to my room, physically.  I'll defend it.  If someone wants to steal my bitcoin, if not cold stored, they can be anywhere in the world to try and steal it.  The only way for bitcoin to be as secure as gold is cold storage, which essentially defeats the purpose of bitcoin because we don't currently have a way to do offline transactions or off the blockchain, as far as I know. 

I'm all for bitcoin, heck at certain points I've held hundreds at a time, but it's certainly not as secure as paper money or gold.  Just the same way - if I write a note on a piece of paper, it's far more secure than if I write a note on a web-based note taking service.  

Decent solutions, including assisted wallets, insured vaults, and multi-sig are getting more and more user-friendly and idiot-proof all the time. If you don't see that this stuff will improve for the masses, and that it'll ultimately be superior in nearly every way (even for mainstream users) vs keeping hunks of metal "safe" in your special hiding place, well, then, you're particularly short-sighted.

Is it my fault the note-service gets hacked?

You did not spare me. Grr.

Am I the idiot?  

Well...

[maddog0000]

Compared to Bitcoin gold doesn't seem real... secure. Sure you can keep it in a vault, but then you can't spend it. If you do carry it around, it's far more noticeable for robbers to steal than cash because it's heavier. It's harder to hide in your home because of metal detectors. Even vaults aren't safe without armed guards, which are expensive and sometimes untrustworthy. Bitcoin can be secured in ways that are impossible to steal, even under duress with five dollar wrenches. That way, they can't even be stolen by home invaders. Bitcoin may be volatile, but gold can be easily stolen. They are easily hidden and layered with decoys. They can be time locked better than any bank vault. Bitcoins can protect some of your wealth even when you are wrongfully judged by an imperfect society. With Bitcoin, you can travel the world and know your wealth is secure. You can have much faster access to liquidity with Bitcoin if you really need it. Bitcoin just makes you feel so much more secure. It makes you feel like credit cards used to before all the identity theft and privacy issues. Why would anyone feel personally secure with gold?

Well stated, I'll be quoting this if you don't mind.

[jabo38]

Well, gold is definitely more clunky and harder to send across the world.

[jabo38]

Sorry, but I think gold is much more secure.
I have a deposit box in a bank which has never been robbed, while I've already lost loads of data because of hard disk failures.

I agree.  I am sure there are lots of cases of people getting bitcoins stolen and also lots of cases of gold getting stolen.

But gold stored properly, like in a safety deposit box (I know some are sooo paranoid to not keep it there) and Bitcoins stored safely are both really hard to steal.  (I use Coinbase's new multisig vault and again many people complain, but I don't think my coins will ever be stolen)

[cbeast]

Sorry, but I think gold is much more secure.
I have a deposit box in a bank which has never been robbed, while I've already lost loads of data because of hard disk failures.

I agree.  I am sure there are lots of cases of people getting bitcoins stolen and also lots of cases of gold getting stolen.

But gold stored properly, like in a safety deposit box (I know some are sooo paranoid to not keep it there) and Bitcoins stored safely are both really hard to steal.  (I use Coinbase's new multisig vault and again many people complain, but I don't think my coins will ever be stolen)

My father died and had things including gold in a safe deposit box that he was supposed to leave to me, they disappeared. If you have to have a separate box just for each gold asset you bequeath, then storage will get expensive.

[Kakmakr]

Invest in GoldCoin <<Crypto Version>>
I am impressed how well they are doing, and the progress they had made. ^Smile^

Friendly bunch of people.

[HeroCat]

Gold you can buy in the bank and also keep in the bank. There are a special gold, which you can buy or sell easy. The only thing is that you must pay to bank for gold keeping service. There are a lot of people, which do this - in Switzerland banks for example.

[cbeast]

Gold you can buy in the bank and also keep in the bank. There are a special gold, which you can buy or sell easy. The only thing is that you must pay to bank for gold keeping service. There are a lot of people, which do this - in Switzerland banks for example.

Ask Switzerland about how their gold repatriation plans are going.

[Vessko]

This is a meaningless question, folks. You can't talk about which is more real/valuable/etc without specifying quantities.

What would you prefer - one bitcoin or an ounce of gold? If your question is "one bitcoin", then I'll gladly pay you one bitcoin for your ounce of gold.

What would you prefer - ten bitcoins or an ounce of gold? If your question is "an ounce of gold', then I'll gladly sell you an ounce of gold for ten bitcoins.

[cbeast]

This is a meaningless question, folks. You can't talk about which is more real/valuable/etc without specifying quantities.

What would you prefer - one bitcoin or an ounce of gold? If your question is "one bitcoin", then I'll gladly pay you one bitcoin for your ounce of gold.

What would you prefer - ten bitcoins or an ounce of gold? If your question is "an ounce of gold', then I'll gladly sell you an ounce of gold for ten bitcoins.

Talk about meaningless. I can't even.

[Daniel91]

In my opinion, gold has, at the moment, more stable price and value in market, and much more trust in the public.
Bitcoin still have to prove itself, and become mainstream, so that other people consider seriously to replace their gold with bitcoin.
It's still long way for bitcoin to go...

[cbeast]

Oh. And try carrying a few pounds of gold through an airport without a lot of questions. Bitcoins don't need to fly.

[tss]

gold is as real as it gets. brick bars, the beauty, oh my.  but btc is "invisible" gold.  undetectable.  border-less.

[hellojpg]

TL;DR

Gold is not real.

[david wilson]

Gold has proven itself to be one of the most durable substances on earth. It doesn’t degrade. Every ounce of gold ever mined is still around. (Excluding the small portion sent out of orbit) Gold has proven to be truly precious.

Bitcoins can only be destroyed for a brief moment in their creation during mining under unusual circumstances which likely has not happened. But if the hard drive containing the private key is buried in a landfill, those units are forever gone. You could argue that a pirate treasure chest of gold buried on an island beach and long forgotten is the same end. The bitcoin units exist on the public ledger which is copied into the cloud and thousands of hard drives around the world.  We can’t predict what may happen to bitcoin in a few hundred years but for today’s generation, so far so good. But because bitcoin is officially an experiment, we’ll have to give this one to gold.

[cisary]