This story actually showcases one way that gold is superior. Stolen, conflict, or otherwise tainted gold can be melted down and re-stamped. This is much harder to trace than a public blockchain like Bitcoin where every transaction is permanently stored.
With Bitcoin, the best you can do is mix your coin taint with others. With gold, taint can be completely erased.
Is that really that different though? If mixing is good enough, the coins are as tainted as any other coin on the blockchain. And gold might not be perfect either, if someone really wanted, they could craft traceable gold bars by adding some isotopes or chemical markers. Or just using existing techniques -
see here.Meh, wouldn't mind it much though this is good news for bitcoins.
I don't think that it's either good or bad for Bitcoin, in grand scheme of things it's irrelevant to Bitcoin.
I meant in the way that people kept accusing Bitcoin as easy to counterfeit or launder. We've always made the argument that the same can be said for fiat, this one shows that even gold experts can be fooled.
With the fingerprinting, I wonder if pawnshops are equipped to detect doped gold. If I bought cheap gold bars and found out it's not "real" simply because it's lacking some seals, I'd be worried how I'll dispose it to get my money back. If they are doped but can pass through pawnshops undetected I might try to have them crafted into jewelry.