Bitcoin vs gold, which is a better store of value to combat inflation? The doubt does not seem to have a place, although it depends on each person's perspective. as was clear in the debate held by analysts and economists, including bitcoiner Anthony Scaramucci and digital currency enemy Peter Schiff. The contest broadcast on YouTube also featured the participation of the CEO of ShapeSchift, Erik Voorhees, and Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor at New York University. Peter Schiff opened the debate and As usual, he questioned bitcoin to come out in defense of gold. From his point of view “bitcoin is not digital gold for the same reason that the digital image of a hamburger is not food.” His position is not surprising, since he has previously said that he foresees the catastrophic collapse of Satoshi Nakamoto's creation, although his own followers have already let him know that he has a wrong position. Even so, Schiff believes that gold is a more useful asset than bitcoin, since it is used in industries such as jewelry and electronics, contrary to the digital asset which he believes lacks practical utility. In this sense, the gold maximalist, he argues that The physical asset is a true store of value, while bitcoin is simply based on speculative demand and does not reflect any inherent utility or practical applications. Scaramucci responded to Schiff's argument by highlighting that only 5% of gold's value is derived from manufacturing purposes, and the majority is attributed to its acceptance as a store of value. He highlighted that bitcoin has deflationary characteristics due to its fixed supply of 21 million. That's why Scaramucci sees bitcoin as digital gold, highlighting its portability compared to physical gold. He also noted that bitcoin is following an adoption curve that will impact its value for decades, comparing it to the trajectory of technology stocks that became standard over time.
Inflation: the meeting point between bitcoiners and gold maximalists
Bitcoiners like Scarmucci and gold maximalists like Schiff may never agree on which asset is best for storing value. But about what yes agree is on the fact that the dollar collapses and while that happens, inflation rises indiscriminately.
“What happens is that the traditional monetary system is a mirage and that is because the government prints money and everyone pretends that this is how they will achieve success and wealth. It is absurd that the government prints money and also feeds the idea that, in this way, people will be more prosperous.” Erik Voorhees, CEO of Shapeshift.
Taking into account how the US economy has been deteriorating, Schiff sees it as reasonable that banks are storing gold. “They should not look towards bitcoin because there are no guarantees that its price will rise, on the contrary it can collapse because it has no real use,” said the economist. Voorhees immediately refuted Schiff by pointing out that bitcoin does have utility. “For example, I can use it to send a million dollars to Europe in five minutes, just using my phone. Regarding this, Roubini came out pointing out that you can also do this using the Swift system although it takes more time, but with banks using KYC procedures “While the reason why someone would use bitcoin is because a criminal would send money to finance terrorism without Nobody checks that that is right. That's when Voorhees said that he was very wrong in his arguments because the reason why banks delay cross-border payments is because they end up benefiting from that practice that does not favor users. “On the other hand, I am an American who loves privacy and sovereignty, now explain to me why I would be inclined to use KYC beyond the fact of submitting to the surveillance of a central government? Then the quartet of analysts and economists continued to present their reasons why they consider, some that bitcoin is better than gold and others pointing out the opposite. At the end of the debate, it was demonstrated once again that the intrinsic value of bitcoin is what each bitcoin gives it.