He's not talking about transacting, but rather its basic existence. Gold requires no maintenance to keep existing, hence it will stay around for thousands of ye

He's not talking about transacting, but rather its basic existence. Gold requires no maintenance to keep existing, hence it will stay around for thousands of years even if civilisation (and utilities infrastructure) collapses. (Securing it is a separate matter; obviously that has costs). The same can't be said for Bitcoin. It's just a refutation of the assertion that Bitcoin is digital gold; Bitcoin lacks one of gold's most important attributes.