My personal experience lies in comparing my dealings with both e-gold and MtGox. In both cases I got out with no loss of funds before the collapse. The difference is how I managed to get out. In the case of e-gold I had to convert my gold into CAD and take delivery of the CAD. In the case of MTGox I had to convert my CAD to BTC and take delivery of my BTC. In both cases I ended up keeping the "delivered" form of money, CAD for e-gold, BTC for MTGox.
Yeah, just like I got my bitcoin out of bitcoin-24.com when they collapsed.
People who were in FIAT are still waiting for their money. (after more than a year).
The crucial point here is that gold is
far worse than fiat in this context. So for ease of taking delivery we have
Best: Bitcoin and other crypto-currecnies
Middle: Fiat currencies USD, CAD, EUR etc.
Worst: Precious metals, gold, silver etc.
There is a reason why fiat was invented in the first place.
This is one of the reasons I expect both a very strong bull market in Bitcoin combined with a brutal bear market in gold and other precious metals. So we could see BTC / USD in the 100,000 to 1 million range or higher and 1 oz of gold dropping to 500 USD or even below 100 USD. In effect a major transfer of wealth from gold to Bitcoin, kind of like the move from horse powered transportation to motor transportation 110 years ago.
I agree that bitcoin wins out in this sense.
I have read though, in Rickards The Death of Money, that the gameplan of the big power blocs seems to be to drive down the price of PM's. One benefit of this is that the China's & Russia's can cheaply increase their gold holdings. Once it gets to 2.7 - 3 % of GDP, then, barring any kind of market crisis, the stage is set for the IMF to introduce SDR's which will include gold in the basket of currencies it is based on. This would significantly increase the fiat price of gold. Implicit to this is that the USD will cede its status as reserve currency.