Well, gold has never been speculative, it has been deliberately made such an asset for several decades in a row by speculators in London. They told everyone that it was the same product as, for example, coal, even worse! Because it has no uses other than jewelry... But gold has never been a commodity. Gold is money in its perfect form. Now everything is back to normal.
But with bitcoin, not everything is as good as with gold. Because Bitcoin is subject to control. First of all, the price of bitcoin can be controlled by large holders. The network itself is completely controlled by the miners. That is, it is enough to control the miners to control the network. Most of the mining facilities are located in the United States, where the government will have no difficulty controlling anything, including the miners too.
Therefore, the largest countries consider bitcoin only as a situational tool that is convenient for calculations at the moment, but not as a currency of the future or an investment. However, I think that bitcoin, nevertheless, will be widely used by individuals when capital is fleeing from treasuries and other assets, because there are very few alternatives.
It’s hard to argue against something that’s been trusted for thousands of years, no matter how much the London crowd tried to turn it into just another commodity. You’re right: gold’s value comes from deep-rooted human trust, not just from a price chart or supply/demand math. On Bitcoin, I get where your doubts come from. Control by whales, miner centralization, those are real worries, not FUD. Even the fact that so much mining shifted to the U.S. (and used to be China) does put a question mark on neutrality. Big holders, big miners, sometimes it really does look like a game for the few, not the many
But maybe that’s why, when things get messy, ordinary people still pick what gives them any chance to move value fast and far. Gold is great, but try crossing a border with it these days. Bitcoin isn’t perfect (far from it) but for a lot of us who don’t have access to traditional “safe havens”, it’s at least an option when the local system or fiat starts wobbling
I feel like Bitcoin opened people's eyes to this. I understand that the dollar is at a vulnerable time, but this has not been the first time in history that the dollar has been unable and no longer a safe haven. Now, people have seen that there can be an alternative to this, instead of continuing to hope that the traditional one will fail.
It may not be the sole reason, but Bitcoin plays a role in this. People are now looking for alternatives to traditional investments and currencies, something that people didn't really think about before, not like they were not there before, but like you said, people preferred a safe haven.
That’s a really balanced take. Like you said, the dollar has been shaky before. And every time, the system survived, sometimes even stronger. But Bitcoin did something new: it broke the illusion that you have to accept what’s handed to you. Now, anyone can at least consider alternatives, even if they don’t take the leap. I think the bigger shift isn’t about Bitcoin replace dollar, but about people realizing they can question the old defaults. For some they choose crypto, for others they choose gold, or just moving money into things they feel they understand better. It’s a small change in mindset, but once it starts, it doesn’t really go backward
That's a loud prove that the global markets evolves and do also experiences evolution where uncertainty is speculatively arbitrage and then, more better commodities is discovered.
It's really been too long the world has been depending and heartedly investing on the US treasure bonds and more likely, the hegemonic influence of the US in the global economy hasn't been satisfiable all these while but because there hadn't been a strong contender, that's why every international values were tied on the US treasures all those while.
Bitcoin has been to the global markets and had proven it potentials and in all ramifications, it potential profitablity on investment, decentralizations resisting regulations which not even the US or any authority is in charge of it and it digital form are all safe wise holding more than enough potentials against it regulatory treasures.
So at the juncture of bitcoin benchmark is why nations and institutions now massively embraces the decentralized treasures as the gold and bitcoin for it hedge against inflation since the USD has lot it value and the rest of the countries leveraging on the US decisions on the global market has brought an ease and reliance on the decentralized system.
The market is always changing, and sometimes the biggest change is just realizing there are other options. For a long time, people had no choice but to accept the US-centered system. It wasn't perfect, but it was the only game in town. Since Bitcoin and even gold have come on the scene, we no longer have to wait for the old guard to fix itself. We now have real options. And yes, the world does "arbitrage" uncertainty. People, institutions, and even countries are no longer just following old rules. Instead, they are going toward what works best for them. There is no longer a need to believe a single country or central bank. Decentralization is no longer just a tech buzzword. With more and more men realizing that "hedge" refers to more than simply financial term, that's a huge deal