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Correct. You can also just shove the gold bars in a safety deposit box too, so from a certain point of view both are free (or $100/year for the safety deposit

by Lazare 9y ago

Correct. You can also just shove the gold bars in a safety deposit box too, so from a certain point of view both are free (or $100/year for the safety deposit box, whatever). But if you have a significant amount of gold or bitcoin (ie, 7+ figures when expressed as USD), a safety deposit box is not going to cut it. You have way too much risk (thieves, fraud, losing the key, securing the key, insurance, liability, etc., etc., etc.) You want someone else to store your gold (or bitcoins). And people charge 15 times more to store Bitcoin than gold.

charlesdm 9y ago
To be honest: it's much easier for someone to steal $100m in Bitcoin than it is to steal $100m in gold.
- canoebuilder 9y ago
  That's a very good point, people like to paint the hyper-mobility of transference of crypto-currencies as superior to precious metals. But for most people seeking a "store of value" they are more interested in having that value sit somewhere safe and undisturbed. And from this point of view the propensity for a crypto-currency to suddenly vanish if every 'i' is not dotted and every 't' not carefully crossed, is rightly seen as a liability for the 'store of value' game. Also interesting to consider is the kind of security precaution spread that exists between between various value levels in precious metals, vs. crypto-currencies. For example, consider the difference in security mechanisms employed by someone storing a couple gold coins in a box in their house, vs. Fort Knox. Whereas your security precautions for storing $10, or $1,000,000 in crypto-currency are not a whole lot different.
- Lazare 9y ago
  Quite right, which is the point of the linked article I think. Storing very valuable, very portable things is hard. And few are harder than bitcoin. Saying "just get a safety deposit box" isn't a great answer.

by Lazare 9y ago

charlesdm 9y ago

To be honest: it's much easier for someone to steal $100m in Bitcoin than it is to steal $100m in gold.

canoebuilder 9y ago
That's a very good point, people like to paint the hyper-mobility of transference of crypto-currencies as superior to precious metals. But for most people seeking a "store of value" they are more interested in having that value sit somewhere safe and undisturbed. And from this point of view the propensity for a crypto-currency to suddenly vanish if every 'i' is not dotted and every 't' not carefully crossed, is rightly seen as a liability for the 'store of value' game. Also interesting to consider is the kind of security precaution spread that exists between between various value levels in precious metals, vs. crypto-currencies. For example, consider the difference in security mechanisms employed by someone storing a couple gold coins in a box in their house, vs. Fort Knox. Whereas your security precautions for storing $10, or $1,000,000 in crypto-currency are not a whole lot different.
Lazare 9y ago
Quite right, which is the point of the linked article I think. Storing very valuable, very portable things is hard. And few are harder than bitcoin. Saying "just get a safety deposit box" isn't a great answer.