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> They generally invest in gold as a hedge -- a "store of value" -- that they hope will retain its value in case other assets go sour. I strongly believe bitco
by lpa22 5y ago
> They generally invest in gold as a hedge -- a "store of value" -- that they hope will retain its value in case other assets go sour.
I strongly believe bitcoin will be the new gold one day, if it doesn't pan out as a currency. It sounds insane, but I actually believe the Winklevoss twins when they say Elon and SpaceX will be able to mine gold on asteroids within the next 20 years, which would crash the price of gold. Not to mention as everything inevitably moves digital, we need to have a digital store of value.
- ChainOfFools 5y ago> Elon and SpaceX will be able to mine gold on asteroids within the next 20 years, which would crash the price of gold. what would be their incentive to do it, then?
- chasebank 5y agoWell, if the cost of mining is less than the value of the gold, I’d imagine there’s plenty of incentive.
- ChainOfFools 5y agoyes, until you "crash the price" by the very act of procuring substantial quantities of it below market value.
- machiaweliczny 5y agoWhat if you crash the price but buy alternative asset first? That would be smart.
- Daishiman 5y ago> I strongly believe bitcoin will be the new gold one day, if it doesn't pan out as a currency. It sounds insane, but I actually believe the Winklevoss twins when they say Elon and SpaceX will be able to mine gold on asteroids within the next 20 years, which would crash the price of gold. Not to mention as everything inevitably moves digital, we need to have a digital store of value. What is the energy cost to get a refined kilo of gold back to Earth?
- cryptoquick 5y agoThese figures aren't adjusted for Delta-V, or inflation, but here are some dollar figures for asteroid and lunar sample return missions: Hayabusa, 2005 - $100 billion dollars per kg Hayabusa 2, 2019 - $33.3 billion dollars per kg OSIRIS-REx - 2020 - $491.7 million per kg Chang'e - 2020 - $104 million per kg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY6aCg5InzY&t=170s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY6aCg5InzY&t=170s Seems to be trending downward... Who knows if it'll be enough. I was curious if a similar downward trend existed for solar panels... "In 1956, solar panels cost roughly $300 per watt. By 1975, that figure had dropped to just over $100 a watt. Today, a solar panel can cost as little as $0.50 a watt." https://news.energysage.com/the-history-and-invention-of-solar-panel-technology/ https://news.energysage.com/the-history-and-invention-of-sol... So, that's a factor of 600 to get to present costs. Gold currently costs $56,500 per kg. So, $33,900,000/kg. So, who knows where we could be in 50-70 years. Plenty of time to switch the entire global economy to Bitcoin, I suppose!
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- analog31 5y agoMy bank account is a digital store of value, in US dollars. I never visit the bank (was impossible during the lockdown), rarely handle cash, and when I do, it's inconvenient.
- HashBasher 5y agoYour digital store of value promises to lose around 2% of its buying power every year, and they beat that by a lot this past year.
- rabuse 5y agoYou can offset the inflation with your 0.5% savings account though... /s
- analog31 5y agoIndeed, and I don't keep a lot of money for that reason. It's designed to be a relatively temporary store of value. There's no such thing as a guaranteed permanent store of value, because value is driven by markets.
- HashBasher 5y agoBitcoin is a guaranteed permanent store of value. It’s value comes from its scarcity, that isn’t going to change no matter what the markets do.
- analog31 5y agoThe value of a bitcoin will always be one bitcoin, just like the value of a dollar will always be one dollar. But you mentioned purchasing power, which can certainly change for both dollars and bitcoins. The "value" of a financial asset, of any practical importance, is its value relative to the value of other things.
- adolph 5y agoMining gold on asteroids will likely be more expensive than mining on this planet. If mining gold on asteroids crash the price of gold, who would mine gold from asteroids? On the other hand, if one were to buy proven gold reserves stored on an asteroid, then that might make sense. The exploration company could discount the value of the gold by the existing cost of sending it to Earth and the ongoing cost of guarding it which will necessary given an absence of enforceable property rights. As the cost of terrestrializing shrinks and potential value of off-Earth use grows the value of the asteroid stored gold would increase over time.
- hatware 5y ago>Mining gold on asteroids will likely be more expensive than mining on this planet. What if I told you they could send asteroids to the planet to be mined _on the planet_ and crash the price of gold?
- adolph 5y agoIt’ll be interesting to see the feasibility based on next month’s launch of Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/dart
- hanniabu 5y agoWithin 20 years Bitcoin will be having a security crisis since they'll have gone through a few block halvings yet their fee revenue isn't growing.