With the two commodities gold and bitcoin and it's almost double the price, it's worth putting aside some of bitcoin's short-term volatility and liquidity concerns to compare them as long-term stores of value side by side.
Bitcoin will probably skyrocket and gold will hold steady even if things are fine in the US due to everybody already knowing about gold, and adoption of bitcoin driving prices.
you might argue bitcoin is newer and flashier, and that it has arguably more utility in the digital era than gold. But, gold has the indisputable track record, having been a cherished store of value for thousands of years across human civilizations.
However, bitcoin's traits have led to those backing the cryptocurrency to believe it could potentially unseat gold over the long haul.
In that type of situation traditional safe havens such as physical gold will likely rise in value but this time bitcoin will have a significant role. Bitcoin as a currency is similar to gold, it is scarce and can’t be created from nothing . However the features of Bitcoin are more advanced as it can be moved effortlessly to anywhere in the world.
Weak national currencies are already a great source of demand for bitcoin. The growth of bitcoin trading volume is high in countries such as China, Latin America, South Africa and based on recent reports, also in India. Due to the weak valuation of local currencies people want to exchange increasing amounts of traditional currency into bitcoin.
Another key advantage bitcoin has over gold is that its supply level is fixed and transparent – eliminating fears of the typical inflationary pressures associated with overproduction that could diminish the value of the asset.
"A well-known characteristic about bitcoin is that it’s on a disinflationary supply schedule. While many people think of gold as being the same, gold is actually a sneakily inflationary asset," said Chris Burniske, blockchain products lead with ARK Investment Management.
The digital revolution of money brings significant enhancements in ease of use but it causes problems for privacy. We are in danger of moving into a police state where everything people do can be monitored. In the era of digital money and payments Bitcoin is an alternative that retains the features of cash.
It is almost certain that all attempts to remove cash will increase the demand of cryptocurrencies and right now Bitcoin is the king of cryptocurrencies.
The worse the traditional economy gets, the better it is for bitcoin. This is why it makes sense for anyone to diversify a portion of their investment portfolio or savings budget into bitcoin.