bye bye silver, welcome BTC in the precius "metal"
There is no chance in hell silver as money can be replaced with bitcoin. You see, gold and silver are money and have always been because of their physical properties which make them perfectly suited for being money. Gold and silver are durable, divisible, convenient, fungible and has intrinsic value. Bitcoin does not: it is just internet cash, useful but no more.
Value is completely inside you head. Value expressed in a market price is group psycology. It's so with Bitcoin, as it is with gold and silver. There is no such thing as intristic value for anything other than things you can eat, a minimum price that any person would pay, otherwise he would cease to be a person, i.e. die of starvation.
You are completely wrong. Gold is and has been money because it has characteristics that no other matter on Earth has…
It cannot be:
- Printed (ask a miner how long it takes to find me and dig it up).
- Counterfeited (you can try, but a scale will catch it every time).
- Inflated (It can't be reproduced)
This is why we should not use paper as money.
It cannot be destroyed by;
- Fire (it takes heat at least 1945.4° F. to melt)
- Water (It does not rust or tarnish)
- Time (coins remain recognizable after a thousand years)
- Computer wreckage of any kind (like bitcoin)
- It does not rot or decompose over time.
Paper can dissapear on fire, water and time. So does a computer.
It does not need:
- Feeding (like cattle)
- Fertilizer (like corn)
- Maintenance (like printing presses or bitcoin)
- Electricity / internet (like bitcoin)
- It does not depend on other people, like bitcoin which depends on other miners for verification
It has no:
- Time limit (most metal is still in existence)
- Counterparty risk (remember MF Global?)
- Shelf life (It never expires)
As a metal, It is uniquely:
- Malleable (spread without cracking)
- Ductile (stretch without breaking)
- Beautiful (ask an Indian bride)
As money, It is:
- Liquid (easily convertible to cash). This is why land or oil are not used as money.
- Portable (you can conveniently hold $50,000 in one hand). This is why land is not used as money.
- Divisible (you can use it in tiny fractions). This is why diamonds are not used as money.
- Consistent (the same in any quantity, at any place). This is why diamonds / oil / corn / food are not used as money.
- Private (no one has to know you own it). This is why land cannot be used as money as well.
You can't possibly expect to store safely the value of your labor in bitcoins today and still have it 200 years from now. With gold, you can. You see, gold and silver are the best material to make money with. Trying to make money with something that is not gold/silver is like trying to make an airplane with iron, or a computer with oxygen. It is simply the best material for that purpose: storing value.
So I repeat my claim. My grandsons will inherit the results of my efforts as gold. Yours will not inherit bitcoins.