Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by kordless on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @03:22PM
(#6810855)
Nope. Gold is used in limited quantities for plating pins in electronics, covering space helmets, and probably a few other things. It's really not that valuable for getting shit done and need a lot of it type of stuff.
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Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by patmcc on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @04:24PM
(#6811243)
The use of gold in industry is discouraged by its high price - if it were the same price as copper, you'd see more uses for it.
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by TylerE on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @03:29PM
(#6810909)
If by limited quantities you mean "about 400 tons a year" (and that's not counting dentistry or jewelry) then yes.
11,666,666 troy ounces
$15,108,332,470 at today's prices.
If you do count jewelry, increase those figured by approx. an order of magnitude.
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by chongli on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @04:03PM
(#6811119)
400 tons a year is nothing compared to other industrial metals. By comparison, world production of copper is 17 million tonnes per year.
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by TylerE on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @04:05PM
(#6811134)
$150 billion a year is nothing?
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by mortehu on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @04:39PM
(#6811320)
I think you mean $15 billion?
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=400+tons+of+gold+in+dol...
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by TylerE on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @05:02PM
(#6811461)
The 150B figure is including jewlery/decorative use, for a total of 4k+ tons/year.
Re:A Prediction: Bitcoin Is Doomed to Fail
by chongli on Wednesday November 27, 2013 @04:17PM
(#6811204)
That price is due to the rarity of gold. If it were as common as copper, 400 tons would be worth a lot less than $150 billion a year.