If gold was easily divisible, instantly verifiable, had a known limited total supply, and could be sent and received globally over the internet with no middlemen, then the gold bugs might have a point.

Replies (16)

Reminds me of this Satoshi quote: "As a thought experiment, imagine there was a base metal as scarce as gold but with the following properties: boring grey in colour, not a good conductor of electricity, not particularly strong, but not ductile or easily malleable either, not useful for any practical or ornamental purpose, and one special, magical property: can be transported over a communications channel. If it somehow acquired any value at all for whatever reason, then anyone wanting to transfer wealth over a long distance could buy some, transmit it, and have the recipient sell it."
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Benking 2 months ago
Exactly! But then it wouldn’t be gold, it would be Bitcoin.
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FREEDOM 2 months ago
If gold could do all that, we wouldn't need Bitcoin. But it can't, so we do. The properties matter more than the material.