5 ms·
Gold is a real thing. Crypto, no matter the stake, is a figment of our collective beliefs. Collective opinion isn’t something that can be split or analyzed, oth
by kordlessagain 5y ago
Gold is a real thing. Crypto, no matter the stake, is a figment of our collective beliefs. Collective opinion isn’t something that can be split or analyzed, otherwise we’d already know everything.
- imgabe 5y agoGold is a real thing. The value of gold and willingness to trade it for food and shelter is a figment of our collective beliefs. We can assign that belief to any other thing we want, the US dollar, Bitcoin, whatever.
- cko 5y agoTo add to that, many things are tangible like real estate, but the notion of ownership is a figment of our collective beliefs as well.
- imgabe 5y agoWell, if you can physically enforce your ownership of something via force, that is a tangible expression of ownership. Generally, we have outsourced this to the state, though, as we seem to have a better society when ownership isn't determined solely by who's the best at violence.
- cko 5y agoTrue. Force can get pretty expensive and difficult to scale, so in practice I'm glad we outsourced it to the state (which is itself a construct). It's turtles (collective beliefs) all the way down. In my opinion if society breaks down enough, there are no secure assets besides tools of force and goodwill.
- tadfisher 5y agoI'm the most bearish person on crypto out of everyone I know, and even I can admit that gold only has value because of the value people assign to it. The value of gold beyond its niche uses in industry is a figment of our collective beliefs, in other words.
- tormeh 5y agoThis is why I'm holding gold (as a hedge against the stock market in these weird times). There is a buyer who will buy no matter the confidence in it. Gold is an important ingredient in, for example, electronics. Your computer and smartphone all have gold in them.
- travisjungroth 5y agoYour reasoning goes against the person you’re replying to. The vast majority of gold’s price is as an investment. If the investment demand went away, the price would plummet. Not 100% because of the industrial demand, but it would be a huge amount. If you want something where the value is backed by industrial use, literally any other metal would be a better choice.
- tormeh 5y agoTrue. It's similar to cryptocurrencies that way, but there is an underlying demand that I find comforting. Bitcoin etc. can be completely abandoned without consequence, but we need gold. Gold will probably always have some value. And as long as it is scarce, that value floor will probably allow its price to recover from a confidence crisis.
- arcticbull 5y agoIndeed, neither are productive assets, and I'm only interested in investing in and advocating for productive assets.
- devmunchies 5y agowhat about PAXG? it's a gold backed crypto. not much different in principle than a precious metals fund.
- kaczordon 5y agoBitcoin can act as a store of value if people want it to. A big reason people like gold is because there’s very little new gold mined every year, something like 1% of total supply. So it’s guaranteed to not inflate(versus the fed printing 30% of total USD supply this year), same thing with Bitcoin.
- raspasov 5y agoDo you think the value that we all attribute to gold is not a figment of our collective beliefs? If not, where do you think it derives its value from?