I recently had this heated argument with a financial executive on the difference between Bitcoin and gold. He argued that they were pretty much the same thing. Gold's price has always been whatever people think it was worth. The same with cryptocurrencies.

I retorted that they are not the same. Gold is tangible. You can hold it in your hand. You know how much of it is being stored in vaults. Although the price certainly fluctuates, gold has been a store of value for thousands of years. It doesn't rust or corrode.

But what exactly is Bitcoin and its thousands of cousins? It's computer code and exists only in the imagination and in cyberspace. Its price is something borne of pure speculation. If cryptos are a store of value, what are they truly representing?

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2018/06/15/what-if-bitcoin-crypto-prices-are-being-manipulated/#482d55ff2350