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Comment by sebchris | Hacker News Reader

There's a reason we call currencies like the dollar fiat currencies, because they only have the value that we give them. Bitcoin is similarly valued. As for gold, Bitcoin is a currency, not a rock. Have you ever tried to buy a sandwich with gold? No, well no shit because it's not a currency and is useless as a means of exchange. Comparing Bitcoin to gold is silly.

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Gold is primarily used as a store of value. Bitcoin (for me, at least) is primarily used as a store of value.

Gold has an intrinsic value of “beauty” and has a minor use in electronics. Bitcoin lets you make international money transfers easily.

People rarely buy sandwiches with gold. People rarely buy sandwiches with bitcoin (though I hope that changes in the future, because it will increase the value of bitcoin!).

It’s true that you can hold a piece of gold in your hand. But, honestly, how often do you do that? And more to the point - do you think most of the people who own gold do it for its physical properties, or so they can eventually exchange it for fiat currency?

I compare bitcoin to gold because, to me, they serve the same purpose for the same reasons.

There's probably quite a few places that would take gold for a sandwich...assuming they knew what you were giving them was real gold. Gold is not as widespread in use as it once was for commerce, but it's still used.

Also, the value of gold doesn't go to zero when the electricity stops... if/when that happens the chickens laying eggs in your coop will be worth more than bitcoin.

Those chickens would also be worth a lot more than gold.

Not the best list, but still: https://www.toptenz.net/10-post-apocalyptic-currencies-more-...

If “the electricity stops” how do you expect to retrieve your gold?

Or do you keep it in a vault in your house along with two years’ rations in case the world’s electricity stops working?

I don’t mean to be rude, but let’s try to keep the arguments rational. I’m happy to be convinced otherwise about bitcoin’s value. But I need to be convinced.

I think bitcoin can be compared to gold in the sense that people use them both as vehicles to store value. Obviously they have different manifestations (digital and physical) and different use cases, but both have the unique characteristic of being rare and therefore valuable.

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