From what I gather, the ledger is what makes it possible for bitcoins to be owned. Without a ledger anyone could claim any bitcoin their own. If my understand

From what I gather, the ledger is what makes it possible for bitcoins to be owned. Without a ledger anyone could claim any bitcoin their own. If my understanding is correct, you're basically saying that bitcoins have the ability to be owned, an ability most physical assets already have. Not comparable at all with the actual intrinsic properties of gold.