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How is Bitcoin significantly different from gold? I suppose gold does get used for something.

• djrogers 10y ago
  Nobody is pushing for vending machines or retailers to take gold...
  • jacquesm 10y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_to_Go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_to_Go
• nassirkhan 10y ago
  Bitcoin is time delimited and finite whereas gold is finite. If major financial systems were to fail, the values of both would skyrocket, although bitcoin would make a better medium of exchange because of portability, in my opinion.
• fennecfoxen 10y ago
  Bitcoin is a better medium of exchange than gold. It's trivially divisible, it can be checked against fraud and counterfeiting with a quick electronic test, and it can be sent around the world in minutes without the expenses usually associated with armed escort. If you're paying some random person in Venezuela a two or three figure sum, Bitcoin is better than gold, and probably more anonymous. Gold is probably a better store of value than bitcoin. It's not a great one, mind you (the price is still too volatile). Its security can also be assured with physical protections that are easier for a layman to understand than bitcoin's electronic protections. Bitcoin has a small but nonzero chance of a total collapse in its value which gold will not face until widespread exploitation of asteroid-based mineral resources is commonplace. Neither are effective units of account.