Dollars are far more easy to alter. Gold is a fundamental element, nobody here knows how stop its atomic properties being the same they have always been - to truly manipulate that market requires significant actions. We can lie about dollars, it is not a fixed entity at all. China can lie about its gold reserves or whatever, its really much harder for them to hide. They are the worlds largest producer now, we can just take a photo from space of their mines if need be, etc.
BTC value is contained in its structure, the failures we have seen have been in websites that revolve around it. So again its superior to dollar, dollars themselves are flawed cotton notes with a promise written on it
Bitcoin can be banned, but it is not that easily taken away. And gold has already been banned and expropriated by Roosevelt in 1930s in the USA...
When buying physical gold, never forget about this!
That was within the USA borders. This was not a fair law, the rich kept their gold outside the country. Jewellery was allowed afaik. Any physical possession can be seized, federal agencies do this to this day. The NSA probably records this website and associated ip and so on
Measuring conductivity does not work with tungsten plated with gold. Besides tungsten, there are some other ways to fake gold too.
The point is that verifying gold is hassle.
The only way tungsten helps fakes is when trust is involved in the seller. So via ebay, it might be great way to fake. If you refuse to buy coins and obviously tungstun can be detected there then bars require more examination but I think anyone spending 10k will have enough equipment to tell a fake tungsten bar from pure gold. If nothing else, buy from a company you can sue not ebay, a proper jeweller or bar retailer should be actively looking
If I trust the seller or the shop and I make no check then its a good cover, it is a close weight but I believe they can tell fake bars when checked. Spending 10k or more without doing any test I think would be a mistake and if less then use coins.
If nothing else when central banks transfer gold bullion, they reforge what they receive. Here is a vid on ultrasonic for bars, no acid or drilling -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvM_4B7Pkc