BITCOIN 1.0, The Future GOLD 2.0

Since ancient times, gold was considered one of the most valuable properties that anyone could buy, accumulate or mine, there were times when it played the role of the "currency of exchange" between traders, but also between states, it adorned thousands of beautiful women who in this way showed their wealth, and actively participated in the creation of banknotes that some of us still use in our day to day lives.

Although gold is still an extremely precious metal worldwide, it is still a simple metal, which according to scientists does not have much use in real life and practically we cannot say that it makes our life easier in too many ways, it actually makes it "heavier", and precisely the weight is what will push it to the second place, after Bitcoin, as a store of value.

Holding large quantities of physical gold, such as store of value, involves certain costs and risks that Bitcoin does not have, and these costs and risks determine its status as an old-fashioned asset. Gold is much harder to transport and trade, it is expensive to guard and divide, which Bitcoin isn't. Transferring $ 10 million in BTC from one end of the world to the other, can cost you a few dollars or less, and this is a clear thing that humanity, with or without its will, is heading for a digital era, if it hasn't already stepped into it.

People no longer go to fairs, or to auctions, to sell their valuable paintings or other similar stores of value, they do it online. The money they receive is transferred to an account by the buyer, and the risk of their theft is much reduced, but with that so is their financial privacy, thanks to banks, but that's a topic for another post. However, more and more people prefer to use "plastic money"/cards than paper money, which could lead us to believe that Bitcoin could be the future of money and not just the future of gold, but is it.

I personally do not believe this, considering that each country will issue in the future its own digital currencies, which will replace the money we have known for hundreds of years, and which can be impregnated with Coronavirus for example. However, Bitcoin will play, and is already playing, an important role in this whole process, this being a store of value, which can be transferred from one country to another quite quickly, safely, and at low costs, regardless of quantity. Transforming BTC to EUR, USD or GDP is no end of the world either, hence moving this type of store of value, and cashing it out to national currencies, whether digital or not, make much more sense than living the country with gold in your pockets.

Banknotes appeared, as far as I know, as proof of gold deposited by miners within a bank, to reduce the risk of thefts, and shortly thereafter, people began to love banknotes more than gold, because banknotes could buy you anything, while gold didn't. However, gold was the banknote's daddy and not the other way around.

Who is the father of virtual currencies then, or should we say the currencies of the future? Bitcoin. It was the first currency "mined by computers", it is the mirror of blockchain technology that seems to be made to solve many of the world's problems, not just financial ones, and thus the roadmap for a new digital era, a borderless economy, at the same time offering transparency and security. Can all of this turn Bitcoin to digital gold, or lets say GOLD 2.0?

I say yes, and what makes it much more valuable, both for now and for the future, considering the mining difficulty that is increased with each halving, is scarcity. There will never be more than 21 million bitcoins in circulation, while no one knows how much gold is to be mined, and where it is stored by governments, how it is used and whether it will ever end. Bitcoin, considered a store of value worldwide, is much more valuable precisely because of the total supply, and is still in the early stages of its appreciation.

What makes it even more valuable, in my opinion, is its buyers. Bitcoin is generally bought by millenials, tech geeks who have grown up in front of a computer monitor, futurists lurking in the future, and those who are fed up with corrupt governments or banks. Gold, on the other hand, is preferred by older generations and bankers, who refuse technology and who often do not know how to use it. They put more value on what is tangible than on the virtual, but those born after 2000, or even a little earlier, already live very much in the virtual space. They are accustomed to asking for share location, to find everything online, they have much easier access to data and at very high data transfer rates, they were born with internet in their pocket, and it is normal for them to appreciate an internet currency to the detriment of that born underground.

I am curious how many young ones from wealthy families would refuse Bitcoin, as a gift, to the detriment of a gold necklace or something similar. Probably very few, and they are the ones who will inherit the billions of dollars that have swirled this world, and which will go in very large quantities into Bitcoin for the decades to come. I was reading recently that about 11 million bitcoins have not moved in the last year, and I was wondering why their owners did not react, considering that last summer a BTC was worth $ 14,000, and half a year earlier it had been only $ 3,000.

Many of us would definitely sell for a 4x profit, but probably as many will miss a potential 100x which could become a reality in the coming decades. It is true that there are a few million bitcoins that were lost forever, and maybe they were taken into account alongside Satoshi's treasure, at the count of the 11 million dormant ones, but the overall vision and perspective is clear. The tangible is becoming less and less valuable in an borderless economy, a world of transparency and speed, a world of young cyber punks and technology.

Scarcity, speed of transfer, reduced costs and transparency, increasing costs for mining in an ever-increasing demand, all in a digital age that has barely seen the light of day, are factors that put Bitcoin in the position of store of value, currently next to gold, a potential one much more valuable than that of gold, and precisely these factors can bring its name of GOLD 2.0, faster than expected.

Images courtesy of unsplash and free to use

Thanks for attention, Adrian