The industry demand of gold is minuscule. It's a rounding error. Buying a $1000 asset with $10 in "intrinsic value" is really no different to bitcoin.
Bitcoin can be transferred electronically, and can move across borders without being hassled at customs.
Where do you get this from? Statista data show way more than 10% of demand from the Jewelry and tech industries: https://www.statista.com/statistics/274684/global-demand-for...
Re:Coinbase S-1
by trident5000 on Thursday February 25, 2021 @12:07PM
(#26265098)
Jewelry is just an extension of speculating on the metal. You can make a necklace out of many materials and it will function the same.
Cobalt is used more in electronics than gold. The MC is not close to the same. Almost 100% of golds value is from speculation.
Re:Coinbase S-1
by tomjakubowski on Thursday February 25, 2021 @12:13PM
(#26265163)
> You can make a necklace out of many materials and it will function the same.
How so? Jewelry's function is to look a certain way.
Re:Coinbase S-1
by trident5000 on Thursday February 25, 2021 @12:24PM
(#26265332)
I can make a necklace look almost exactly like gold but out of another material. The slight difference in subjective aesthetics does not justify a 1000x+ price increase. Its expensive because its a speculation.
Cobalt is also thousands of times of abundant than gold...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_elements_in_Earth...
>If you have gold, silver, platinum, you will always have at least some demand from the industry. Even if the majority of the current market price is due to speculation you still have an actual need for the metal. That's not the case for bitcoin. You could have the market losing faith tomorrow and it's done, your coins have zero value.
Is there a difference between investing in gold (30% "real" value, 70% "speculated" value) and investing 30% in copper (100% "real" value) plus 70% in bitcoin (100% "speculated" value)?
Only that it would have been way more profitable
Re:Coinbase S-1
by hungryhobo on Thursday February 25, 2021 @11:44AM
(#26264797)
Volatility?
If you have gold, silver, platinum, you will always have at least some demand from the industry. Even if the majority of the current market price is due to speculation you still have an actual need for the metal. That's not the case for bitcoin. You could have the market losing faith tomorrow and it's done, your coins have zero value.
Crypto assets are their own things, it's not helpful to associate them to something that has different properties such as gold.