Bitcoin is similiar to gold in almost every way, so it should be compared to mining & called mining.
Is it called differently? The forum section is called "mining". The programs are miners, etc.
But anyway, bitcoin is very far from gold. A lump of gold conducts electricity very well, does not corrode, is a good catalyst and you can make w nice shiny ring out of it. Bitcoin is neither. Bitcoin is absolutely non-physical. Face it: bitcoin is
fiat. But Bitcoin is not an ordinary fiat. Bitcoin is
decentralized. This is the only truly novel feature of Bitcoin because finite supply is non-novel, there are a lot of finite supply tokens (e.g, collectors coins).
Bitcoin is
not fiat. One could only think so based on a misunderstanding of the word fiat. Bitcoin did not become valuable when Satoshi said "LET THERE BE BITCOIN". Bitcoin becomes valuable when people say "hmm... this is pretty neat, I'd accept this as payment" or "I'll buy some of this". Fiat currency becomes valuable because the government demands it to be so. If I participate in a debt based transaction in the United States, am taken to court and lose, the government will force me to pay restitution in U.S. dollars.
Consider the early days of gold as currency. Why would a farmer accept gold as payment? He can't buy things with it, unless other people accept it as well. Would you say that gold was only valuable "by fiat"? No, because nobody forced anybody else to accept gold, it was voluntary.