digital gold – Mehran Muslimi

For thousands of years, gold has been the king of value. It built empires, backed currencies, and became the ultimate symbol of wealth. But times have changed. We’re living in a world that runs on Wi-Fi, not warships — and there’s a new challenger in town.

That challenger? Bitcoin.

The digital upstart that doesn’t shine, doesn’t rust, and doesn’t care about borders. It’s fast, global, and immune to the printing presses of central banks. And it’s here to take gold’s throne.

Gold: The Original Heavyweight

Let’s give credit where it’s due — gold has history. It’s rare, it’s beautiful, and it’s been trusted for centuries. But in today’s economy, gold feels a little… slow. You can’t email it, you can’t split it easily, and storing it safely costs money.

Meanwhile, the world has moved online — and digital money needs digital speed.

Bitcoin: The Rebel with a Cause

Bitcoin is what happens when you take gold’s best qualities — scarcity, trust, and independence — and upgrade them for the internet age. There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins, and no government can change that.

It’s borderless, permissionless, and unstoppable. You can send millions of dollars in Bitcoin halfway across the world in minutes — no banks, no middlemen, no delays.

In a sense, Bitcoin is gold on turbo mode.

Old Money vs. Smart Money

Sure, gold has stood the test of time — but so did horse-drawn carriages before cars came along. Bitcoin is built for a generation that lives online. It’s programmable, trackable, and transparent. Every transaction sits on a public blockchain, meaning no hidden manipulation, no printing more when times get tough.

As governments keep printing fiat currency like there’s no tomorrow, people are waking up to a simple truth: scarcity equals value. Gold is scarce — but Bitcoin is digitally, verifiably scarce. That’s a game-changer.

“But Bitcoin is Too Volatile!”

So what? Every groundbreaking invention starts out bumpy. Remember the early internet? Dial-up modems and 10-minute page loads didn’t stop it from changing everything.

Bitcoin’s price swings aren’t a flaw — they’re growing pains. Each crash weeds out the weak hands, and each recovery brings in stronger believers.

The Future Has Logged On

Gold had a legendary run — it was money for the physical world. But Bitcoin is money for the digital world, and the digital world isn’t going anywhere.

In the end, this isn’t just about price — it’s about freedom, technology, and the future of value. Gold will always sparkle, but Bitcoin? It shines where gold can’t — in the digital economy that runs the modern world.

So if you’re betting on the future, remember this:
Gold was the past. Bitcoin is the future.

You may have noticed that trade wars are trending. The US versus China being one of the biggest and most reported, but not the only one. Panos Mourdoukoutas writing at Forbes suggests that these clashes over trade could make bitcoin and the leading altcoins a “safe haven” and send their prices skyrocketing.

Once upon a time gold was a safe haven for investors at times of strife, but has lost some of its appeal due to a strong US dollar and what is called a high “carry” cost.

The US Treasury is another safe haven, but China is holding over one trillion dollars of treasury notes and if things take a further dive between Trump and Xi, then the Chinese may well decide to crash the market, using it as a weapon against the USA.

Mourdoukoutas believes that this leaves us with cryptocurrencies as the place to store money while the trade wars continue. Although, he does point out that there is a high element of risk involved in this strategy.

He also claims that other experts on the markets agree that cryptocurrencies have already been boosted by the trade war to date. Nisa Amoils, a venture capitalist with New York Angels said, “While infrastructure build-out and Facebook’s Libra have validated the space in recent months, this continues to be a macro story. The largest catalyst continues to be the deteriorating global macro backdrop, which continues to support digital assets, especially Bitcoin and to a lesser extent the innovative ‘decentralized finance’ movement occurring on top of the Ethereum protocol.”

Amoil agrees that cryptocurrencies are pushing gold into the background and that bitcoin is “digital gold”, a view held by some, but not by everyone.

Deric Scott, Vice President of Metals.com said, “Gold is universally accepted as currency around the world and has been for nearly 6,000 years. It’s tangibility and anonymity make it very appealing for people looking to retain what little shred of privacy we as a collective society still have.”

Scott also thinks that gold is superior to crypto because it doesn’t rely on the Internet, saying, “it’s a nice way to store wealth that is still accessible even when the power or Wifi is out.” It’s a point, but not one that techie people are likely to take very seriously.

Mourdokoutas also refers to the fact that central banks are getting ready for another round of easing, and that could be positive for speculative assets, including major cryptocurrencies. This could push the prices to new highs, simply because cryptocurrencies have a limited supply.

It all makes watching the trade war news even more interesting if you’re a cryptocurrency owner.

Mehran Muslimi

Tag: digital gold

Bitcoin vs Gold: Only One Can Be the Future of Money