That's correct. Bitcoin will be useful for a troubled economy and there is no doubt in that. The countries which have accepted Bitcoin and crypto currencies is prospering well in their economic, the economic growth has doubled for some countries to be specific. Other countries are also thinking and planning to accept Bitcoin for their economy to grow but just stuck with rules and regulations to put in place before doing that it seems.
Bitcoin is now considered by many as digital gold. As such, it has all the properties that makes gold unique, such as scarcity, and reliability, but better in my own opinion. Bitcoin is portable and easily transacted across borders, while Gold is not portable and it's very difficult to transport it around the world. Taking this into consideration, it's no wonder why many people (including governments) are interested in owning and using Bitcoin for their own benefit.
Maybe in the future, Bitcoin will replace Gold, making it the standard safe-haven asset of the world. And when this happens, you can rest assured that Bitcoin will be ideal for a troubled economy. It's been useful already, but it can be better as it upgrades into a scalable cryptocurrency for the masses with its Lightning Network.
Very true. Bitcoin is already replacing gold in the markets as people are using it to hedge against global risk, especially trade wars. Gold should be much much higher than it is right now because of what's going on between the US and China, but it keeps crawling lower. Instead, the capital is pouring into bitcoin based on what we've seen happen to the price in the last few days. Especially if it becomes scalable, there will be nothing standing in its way like you said.
Saw a good article on this:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2018/07/24/trade-war-will-launch-bitcoin-as-the-new-gold/#5641e1481c32
And it's strange that Goldman would be recommending this. Maybe IMF austerity measures aren't doing the trick anymore?