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Topic: If Bitcoin were Gold - page 2. (Read 1885 times)

sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 251
Giga
May 14, 2014, 02:05:57 AM
#9
gold is precious and unique

bitcoin is neither

both gold and bitcoin are undervalued imo

Not precious? Not unique? Seriously?

If it isn't unique, please.... Conjure up some of it then... Bitcoin isn't seashells scattered on the beach being used for currency.

Not precious? I've never spent such care protecting my private keys... And people are willing to pay ~450 for it... That's precious.

Its all in your head

Gold's preciousness is also just illusionary.
sr. member
Activity: 294
Merit: 250
May 13, 2014, 11:32:46 PM
#8
gold is precious and unique

bitcoin is neither

both gold and bitcoin are undervalued imo

Not precious? Not unique? Seriously?

If it isn't unique, please.... Conjure up some of it then... Bitcoin isn't seashells scattered on the beach being used for currency.

Not precious? I've never spent such care protecting my private keys... And people are willing to pay ~450 for it... That's precious.
sr. member
Activity: 481
Merit: 268
May 13, 2014, 04:50:28 PM
#7
Besides a top of bitcoin price at Gox (1242 usds) on the same value of the ounce of gold, the match between 1 ounce of gold and 1 bitcoin has no factual support. It's very hard to compare so different things.
And, as told, gold has been precious for at least 7000 years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_mining#History
hero member
Activity: 644
Merit: 500
One Token to Move Anything Anywhere
May 13, 2014, 04:06:56 PM
#6

Gold is used in the industry as a material for it's properties. Companies who use gold for products will be forced to buy gold at sub-optimal prices.
Bitcoin has no other properties, it's purely data and has no distinct physical form (yes you can store it on a physical media but it has nothing to do with bitcoin itself).


That's not really true. I know what you mean but the fact that Bitcoin is both a store of value (and is rare and therefore comparable to Gold, making it share a certain investment trait) AND something that can be used to pay for things (with more convenience coming down the line) in a way similar to cash, makes it unique and lends it a special property of its own. I think that this unique combination lends Bitcoin a certain plus value, to be discovered.

Gold may be used to make jewellery, but it cannot and will never be a convenient way of paying for something.
hero member
Activity: 868
Merit: 1001
https://keybase.io/masterp FREE Escrow Service
May 12, 2014, 10:24:04 PM
#5
You know why I think bitcoin will be valuable and coveted in the future beyond any other cryptocurrency, even if arguably better ones come along?  Simply because it is the first, the original, the pure source.  Rare, uncorruptable, untaintable.  A special place in history as the one that started it all.  First mover advantage.  It will be like the Holy Grail, the Model T Ford, the Mona Lisa of all cryptocurrencies, and everyone will want to own some just because of this one special attribute.  Especially the rich.  Just look at BRK-A stock, the rich want some of it just because the "commoners" can't afford it (yes I know BTC can pretty much be owned by anyone due to near infinite divisibility, even if it attained a $1M/BTC valuation, but still).  

I know, it sounds completely crazy, but I've seen crazier things in the fine art, antiques and collectibles market.

I think bitcoin might see some serious competition in the next 3 to 5 years that could eat into it's market share. It could be possible to overcome that with sidechains, but it comes down to who releases the next innovative crypto first.
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 500
Time is on our side, yes it is!
May 12, 2014, 09:35:44 PM
#4
 
You know why I think bitcoin will be valuable and coveted in the future beyond any other cryptocurrency, even if arguably better ones come along?  Simply because it is the first, the original, the pure source.  Rare, uncorruptable, untaintable.  A special place in history as the one that started it all.  First mover advantage.  It will be like the Holy Grail, the Model T Ford, the Mona Lisa of all cryptocurrencies, and everyone will want to own some just because of this one special attribute.  Especially the rich.  Just look at BRK-A stock, the rich want some of it just because the "commoners" can't afford it (yes I know BTC can pretty much be owned by anyone due to near infinite divisibility, even if it attained a $1M/BTC valuation, but still).  

I know, it sounds completely crazy, but I've seen crazier things in the fine art, antiques and collectibles market.

I tend to agree with you.  Bitcoin has done all the dirty work and has taken the unbeaten path.  Something no other coin can claim to have done.  That fact with a few other things makes it special but the number one thing is the timing.  That is what I believe will be the reason Btc makes it.

The comparison to gold makes me all the more bullish haha good work OP.
legendary
Activity: 3710
Merit: 5286
May 12, 2014, 06:42:27 PM
#3
You know why I think bitcoin will be valuable and coveted in the future beyond any other cryptocurrency, even if arguably better ones come along?  Simply because it is the first, the original, the pure source.  Rare, uncorruptable, untaintable.  A special place in history as the one that started it all.  First mover advantage.  It will be like the Holy Grail, the Model T Ford, the Mona Lisa of all cryptocurrencies, and everyone will want to own some just because of this one special attribute.  Especially the rich.  Just look at BRK-A stock, the rich want some of it just because the "commoners" can't afford it (yes I know BTC can pretty much be owned by anyone due to near infinite divisibility, even if it attained a $1M/BTC valuation, but still).  

I know, it sounds completely crazy, but I've seen crazier things in the fine art, antiques and collectibles market.
legendary
Activity: 1652
Merit: 1265
May 12, 2014, 06:34:34 PM
#2
Interresting point of view, hope you're right but....

Since Bitcoin and gold are not alike I do not think we can compare it purely on it's rareness.

Age
Gold has been a rare and valuable material dating all the way back to the pyramids, aztechs, etc.
Bitcoin has only been around for a few years. We need more years and more mathematical proof to trust it.

Properties
Gold is used in the industry as a material for it's properties. Companies who use gold for products will be forced to buy gold at sub-optimal prices.
Bitcoin has no other properties, it's purely data and has no distinct physical form (yes you can store it on a physical media but it has nothing to do with bitcoin itself).

I will say it again, I hope you're right but we cannot compare gold and bitcoin in a simplistic model like this.
That said it does show that bitcoin can have a great potential to grow.
sr. member
Activity: 294
Merit: 250
May 12, 2014, 04:02:34 PM
#1
According to a recent report, there are 171,300 Tonnes of mined gold in existence on earth.

Now consider that there are 32,150 troy ounces in each ton of gold.

Mathematically, that means that there are 5,507,295,000 troy ounces of gold on the earth.

Each troy ounce has a current market value of around $1,300. A Market capitalization of 7,159,483,500,000


Now lets contrast bitcoin.

There are currently has around 12,730,000 bitcoin in existence right now.

each bitcoin has a current value of  around $450



So 5,507,295,000 troy ounces vs 12,730,000 bitcoins means that bitcoin is 432 times MORE RARE than gold.


Now, lets pretend an ideal scenario where  bitcoin took the place of gold and it's entire value structure. 5,507,295,000 x $1300  = 7,159,483,500,000    (7 TRILLION DOLLARS)

now, If there are only 12,730,000 bitcoin right now, that would mean that each bitcoin would be worth $562,410 at the same market cap as gold.



Extrapolating from the current price, (450 / 562,410) this also tells us that bitcoin has only reached  .08% (.0008) of the market cap that gold has.

room to go up?



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