You can literally store it in your mind. A lot of people buy gold for when "Shit hits the fan". But in the end, it's better to flee a horrible place (think Russia or Hong Kong) with a bottle of water and $1M worth of bitcoin stored in your head.

> You can literally store it in your mind

People love to say this, but frankly it is so unrealistic as to border on untrue. It’s a lot to remember. And you can’t transact with “your head” alone, you still need to interface with a computer of sorts; in the event you’re fleeing it’s probably not so easy to purchase a hardware wallet or download the TB-scale blockchain.

> but frankly it is so unrealistic as to border on untrue. It’s a lot to remember.

12 words is enough. For example: witch collapse practice feed shame open despair creek road again ice least. If you can make a story that incorporates those words, it's even easier to remember.

> you still need to interface with a computer of sorts

You flee a nasty place towards a nice place. Nice places have computers and internet.

Is this really the case?

Don't most people who invest in gold use ETCs/ETFs, certificates etc.?

I don't think gold trading is significantly far off instantaneous, at this point, and it's probably easier to cash out.