Sunday, May 12, 2019

Fool's Gold

Bitcoin has gone from 3000 dollar to 7500 dollar over the last five months. However, this is no proof of anything, except that perception can trump reality for extended periods of time.

Unlike gold, which has real physical qualities such as near perfect conductivity and malleability, Bitcoin has no physical properties whatsoever. This means that while gold can be priced based on its physical qualities, Bitcoin is priced on the basis of perception alone.

It follows from this that Bitcoin cannot store any value. To store value, there must be some inherent utility that is stored. Perception is not part of this. Perception is in the minds of people, and therefor not something that can be stored in a thing. Whatever value Bitcoin keeps from one day to another is not stored in Bitcoin, but in the minds of people.

This is not the case for gold. Jewelers and engineers need gold to make things. It is not mere perception that make them buy gold. They need gold to make jewelry, smart phones and computers. There is a real need for the properties inherent in gold. There is no such need for Bitcoin because it has no inherent properties of value.

The only thing that Bitcoin has in common with gold is that it requires a lot of energy to be produced. Apart from this, there is no similarities whatsoever. To talk of the two things as if they are somehow similar is disingenuous, and it is sad to see so many people fall for it.

Casascius coin.jpg

A piece of brass pretending to be a store of value

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