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The fundamental problem of any such criticism of crypto is explaining then how crypto is different from gold besides "some people value gold also because of int

The fundamental problem of any such criticism of crypto is explaining then how crypto is different from gold besides "some people value gold also because of intrinsic value". Why is gold not exactly like having stock in a long bankrupt company? If gold is indeed like crypto, then when is this gradually built dogma finally going to be exposed? Holding gold would've been good investment advice almost in any civilization.

Youden 5y ago
> is explaining then how crypto is different from gold besides "some people value gold also because of intrinsic value". You say this as if having intrinsic value isn't enough?
Lazare 5y ago
Very similar arguments can be made about gold. And have been! And the fact they have been wrong until now is not necessarily a good predictor of the future. In any case, there is one key thing which differentiates gold from crypto - there's only one kind of gold, and there's only a very small number of metals with similar properties to gold - perhaps 8 in total, all of which have been valuable since mankind figured out how to extract and work them, and none of which are exact substitutes for gold. Gold and gold-like metals are scarce! Crypto is not scarce. Any one coin can be, but even if we, as a society, decided that, say, shiba inu themed crypto coins are our core store of value, there are multiple shiba inu themed coins already extant, and it is trivial to make infinite more. Even if we pick a single coin like Bitcoin (and why would we?), there are currently something like 45 currently active forks, all claiming to be the one true best Bitcoin. Gold is valuable because it is unique and differentiable. (That is, if you want something like gold, you need to buy some gold, because nothing else is quite like it.) Litecoin is valuable because...?
- redwood 5y ago
  Gold has also stood the test of time in a way unique to our human culture
- mraudiobook_com 5y ago
  Crypto is not scarce, That is simply an incorrect statement.
- WastingMyTime89 5y ago
  Gold is not really scarce and as seen its price plummets multiple times throughout history as large quantities were unexpectedly discovered. If even a minority of the people currently hoarding gold decided to sell, the price would crash. Gold is a strange asset. It is valuable because it is seen as a strong way to store value and it is a strong way to store value because people collectively believe it to be so. In that way, it is actually quite close to bitcoin.
  - spiralx 5y ago
    I remember being surprised when I read that half of all of the gold we have has been mined since 1961, which really does show that basing your currency on it would have massive problems.
    - Lazare 5y ago
      See also the inflationary spike of the Renaissance era, sometimes called the Spanish Price Revolution: https://voxeu.org/article/does-inflow-precious-metals-new-world-really-explain-great-inflation-renaissance-europe https://voxeu.org/article/does-inflow-precious-metals-new-wo... Prices rose sixfold over 150 years, which represents a ~1% inflation rate which seems low by modern standards, but the thing about inflation is that expectations matter far more than the absolute rate, and European society had ~0% inflation assumptions baked into it, so the effects were significant and sweeping. The graph of price levels in England in that article is just wild. It's now generally accepted that that the main driver of this was the Spanish treasure fleets from the New World, which significantly increased the money supply in Europe.
      - spiralx 5y ago
        Which itself followed the Great Bullion Famine, where there was too little gold and silver available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine It's also amusing that silver was far more critical than gold historically.

Youden 5y ago

> is explaining then how crypto is different from gold besides "some people value gold also because of intrinsic value". You say this as if having intrinsic value isn't enough?

Lazare 5y ago

Very similar arguments can be made about gold. And have been! And the fact they have been wrong until now is not necessarily a good predictor of the future. In any case, there is one key thing which differentiates gold from crypto - there's only one kind of gold, and there's only a very small number of metals with similar properties to gold - perhaps 8 in total, all of which have been valuable since mankind figured out how to extract and work them, and none of which are exact substitutes for gold. Gold and gold-like metals are scarce! Crypto is not scarce. Any one coin can be, but even if we, as a society, decided that, say, shiba inu themed crypto coins are our core store of value, there are multiple shiba inu themed coins already extant, and it is trivial to make infinite more. Even if we pick a single coin like Bitcoin (and why would we?), there are currently something like 45 currently active forks, all claiming to be the one true best Bitcoin. Gold is valuable because it is unique and differentiable. (That is, if you want something like gold, you need to buy some gold, because nothing else is quite like it.) Litecoin is valuable because...?

redwood 5y ago
Gold has also stood the test of time in a way unique to our human culture
mraudiobook_com 5y ago
Crypto is not scarce, That is simply an incorrect statement.
WastingMyTime89 5y ago
Gold is not really scarce and as seen its price plummets multiple times throughout history as large quantities were unexpectedly discovered. If even a minority of the people currently hoarding gold decided to sell, the price would crash. Gold is a strange asset. It is valuable because it is seen as a strong way to store value and it is a strong way to store value because people collectively believe it to be so. In that way, it is actually quite close to bitcoin.
- spiralx 5y ago
  I remember being surprised when I read that half of all of the gold we have has been mined since 1961, which really does show that basing your currency on it would have massive problems.
  - Lazare 5y ago
    See also the inflationary spike of the Renaissance era, sometimes called the Spanish Price Revolution: https://voxeu.org/article/does-inflow-precious-metals-new-world-really-explain-great-inflation-renaissance-europe https://voxeu.org/article/does-inflow-precious-metals-new-wo... Prices rose sixfold over 150 years, which represents a ~1% inflation rate which seems low by modern standards, but the thing about inflation is that expectations matter far more than the absolute rate, and European society had ~0% inflation assumptions baked into it, so the effects were significant and sweeping. The graph of price levels in England in that article is just wild. It's now generally accepted that that the main driver of this was the Spanish treasure fleets from the New World, which significantly increased the money supply in Europe.
    - spiralx 5y ago
      Which itself followed the Great Bullion Famine, where there was too little gold and silver available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine It's also amusing that silver was far more critical than gold historically.