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BTC is better than gold in many regards. - impossible to counterfeit - trivial to audit - easy to transfer - easier to store - its supply is actually limit

BTC is better than gold in many regards. - impossible to counterfeit - trivial to audit - easy to transfer - easier to store - its supply is actually limited (unlike gold, which is near-infinite in the universe). Most of it has been mined. Its supply will actually diminish over time, as keys get lost forever, though it's hard to tell how fast that process is.

1659447091 2y ago
And completely worthless in the event of war with attacks on power grids electronics etc. Gold on the other hand, I could trade for food.
- bufferoverflow 2y ago
  If you are at a war where your whole electric grid and internet and SMS are completely down, you have much bigger problems than currency not working. It means your bank accounts are gone, your credit cards are gone. And how are you actually going to use gold as currency? Walk into a shop and shave off some gold at the checkout? And how will the store owner authenticate that it's actually gold? Bullets will be a better currency than gold in that scenario.
  - lesuorac 2y ago
    I'm not sure war even needs to be that large for it to be a problem. Basically unless its like China vs US then you don't need sell BTC to fund the country (even then I don't think you would; but if you never need to sell BTC its pointless). If China vs US then realistically, China can and probably will cut a lot of the internet traffic between the two. Bitcoin only functions because of the public ledger; if Chinese miners aren't sync'd with non-Chinese miners then you have a double-spend problem and I can't see bitcoin not going to 0 pretty quickly.
  - InfiniteTitan 2y ago
    > And how will the store owner authenticate that it's actually gold? Umm this is a solved problem. Believe it or not gold has been used as currency for thousands of years.
    - bufferoverflow 2y ago
      It's not a solved problem. Notice how you didn't actually answer the question of how a random store will authenticate your gold shavings. Even banks and large jewelers fail to authenticate gold. https://testyourgold.com/gold-plated-tungsten-in-russian-banks/ https://testyourgold.com/gold-plated-tungsten-in-russian-ban... https://decrypt.co/34033/chinese-firm-dumps-83-tonnes-of-fake-gold-on-the-market https://decrypt.co/34033/chinese-firm-dumps-83-tonnes-of-fak...
      - InfiniteTitan 2y ago
        Simply incredible. Used for millennia as currency but not a solved problem to determine what is gold…
  - 1659447091 2y ago
    Trading jewelry for goods in desperate times is a thing. Even desperation in current times has examples of this. Pawn shops advertise in large letters that they buy gold. But I agree, bullets are always a better currency; one of the positives (for people who responsibly enjoy firearms) living where I do is minimal restriction on such things.
- sadeshmukh 2y ago
  Gold is similarly useless when it's heavy and hard to move. There is little chance of that, and Bitcoin offers advantages in ease of transfer, transparency of transactions, and lack of government interference.
  - InfiniteTitan 2y ago
    > Heavy and hard to move This only applies to very large amounts of monetary value. $1m USD is currently under 24lb/10.7kg.
    - latchkey 2y ago
      Easy to detect if you want to "move" between countries. You wouldn't want to try to get that through an airport. Bitcoin is just some words on paper (or in your head).
- fragmede 2y ago
  Can you? What use is gold in the Mad Max era?
dragonwriter 2y ago
> its supply is actually limited (unlike gold, which is near-infinite in the universe) 100% (to very many significant figures) of the gold in the universe has a sufficiently near infinite cost to deliver to the surface of the earth that it is irrelevant to any discussion of human economics; once that subset is eliminated, the available supply of gold is quite finite.

1659447091 2y ago

And completely worthless in the event of war with attacks on power grids electronics etc. Gold on the other hand, I could trade for food.

bufferoverflow 2y ago
If you are at a war where your whole electric grid and internet and SMS are completely down, you have much bigger problems than currency not working. It means your bank accounts are gone, your credit cards are gone. And how are you actually going to use gold as currency? Walk into a shop and shave off some gold at the checkout? And how will the store owner authenticate that it's actually gold? Bullets will be a better currency than gold in that scenario.
- lesuorac 2y ago
  I'm not sure war even needs to be that large for it to be a problem. Basically unless its like China vs US then you don't need sell BTC to fund the country (even then I don't think you would; but if you never need to sell BTC its pointless). If China vs US then realistically, China can and probably will cut a lot of the internet traffic between the two. Bitcoin only functions because of the public ledger; if Chinese miners aren't sync'd with non-Chinese miners then you have a double-spend problem and I can't see bitcoin not going to 0 pretty quickly.
- InfiniteTitan 2y ago
  > And how will the store owner authenticate that it's actually gold? Umm this is a solved problem. Believe it or not gold has been used as currency for thousands of years.
  - bufferoverflow 2y ago
    It's not a solved problem. Notice how you didn't actually answer the question of how a random store will authenticate your gold shavings. Even banks and large jewelers fail to authenticate gold. https://testyourgold.com/gold-plated-tungsten-in-russian-banks/ https://testyourgold.com/gold-plated-tungsten-in-russian-ban... https://decrypt.co/34033/chinese-firm-dumps-83-tonnes-of-fake-gold-on-the-market https://decrypt.co/34033/chinese-firm-dumps-83-tonnes-of-fak...
    - InfiniteTitan 2y ago
      Simply incredible. Used for millennia as currency but not a solved problem to determine what is gold…
- 1659447091 2y ago
  Trading jewelry for goods in desperate times is a thing. Even desperation in current times has examples of this. Pawn shops advertise in large letters that they buy gold. But I agree, bullets are always a better currency; one of the positives (for people who responsibly enjoy firearms) living where I do is minimal restriction on such things.
sadeshmukh 2y ago
Gold is similarly useless when it's heavy and hard to move. There is little chance of that, and Bitcoin offers advantages in ease of transfer, transparency of transactions, and lack of government interference.
- InfiniteTitan 2y ago
  > Heavy and hard to move This only applies to very large amounts of monetary value. $1m USD is currently under 24lb/10.7kg.
  - latchkey 2y ago
    Easy to detect if you want to "move" between countries. You wouldn't want to try to get that through an airport. Bitcoin is just some words on paper (or in your head).
fragmede 2y ago
Can you? What use is gold in the Mad Max era?

dragonwriter 2y ago

> its supply is actually limited (unlike gold, which is near-infinite in the universe) 100% (to very many significant figures) of the gold in the universe has a sufficiently near infinite cost to deliver to the surface of the earth that it is irrelevant to any discussion of human economics; once that subset is eliminated, the available supply of gold is quite finite.