The most obvious difference is that the "mining" of BTC is necessary for its security/transaction layer. The security of the worldwide gold supply is not contin

The most obvious difference is that the "mining" of BTC is necessary for its security/transaction layer. The security of the worldwide gold supply is not contingent on constantly directing more resources towards mining, and it is possible to continue to transact with gold if mining were banned altogether. Most holders of gold don't have any interest at all in mining; indeed curtailing gold mining would actually work in their favour. (But yeah, gold hoarding is pretty wasteful in multiple ways too)