My personal experience lies in comparing my dealings with both e-gold and MtGox. In both cases I got out with no loss of funds before the collapse. The difference is how I managed to get out. In the case of e-gold I had to convert my gold into CAD and take delivery of the CAD. In the case of MTGox I had to convert my CAD to BTC and take delivery of my BTC. In both cases I ended up keeping the "delivered" form of money, CAD for e-gold, BTC for MTGox.
Yeah, just like I got my bitcoin out of bitcoin-24.com when they collapsed.
People who were in FIAT are still waiting for their money. (after more than a year).
The crucial point here is that gold is
far worse than fiat in this context. So for ease of taking delivery we have
Best: Bitcoin and other crypto-currecnies
Middle: Fiat currencies USD, CAD, EUR etc.
Worst: Precious metals, gold, silver etc.
There is a reason why fiat was invented in the first place.
This is one of the reasons I expect both a very strong bull market in Bitcoin combined with a brutal bear market in gold and other precious metals. So we could see BTC / USD in the 100,000 to 1 million range or higher and 1 oz of gold dropping to 500 USD or even below 100 USD. In effect a major transfer of wealth from gold to Bitcoin, kind of like the move from horse powered transportation to motor transportation 110 years ago.