trading virtual gold is like buying air. you invest money in something you don't own. which you can't compare to bitcoin. if i buy 1 btc i have it in my wallet. if you buy virtual gold....tell me what do i own?
You can go into physical as easily as into paper gold, provided you have enough money. Physically settled gold futures are traded alongside with cash settled ones. If you want to discredit gold somehow, you are obviously aiming at the wrong target...
But one doesn't have to buy physical gold in order to invest in Gold. You can buy virtual gold. I mean gold mutual fund or gold etf. They are easily trad able in share market.
Gold certificates , ETF's, gold Stocks, are ponzi schemes. There are 1000x more gold derivatives in circulation than actual gold.
When the price of gold rises, and people will want to exchange their certificate into physical gold, there wont be any and they will lose their investment.