> First, few if any gold investors have expectations of profits. They generally invest in gold as a hedge -- a "store of value" -- that they hope will retain its value in case other assets go sour.
First, this does not negate the comparison. Bitcoin could also be like that, and therefore not a ponzi. Second, I know a long of gold investors who would disagree with this opinion. Third, the market cap of gold is over 4x bitcoin, indicating that gold has already reached saturation, whereas bitcoin has space to grow.
> Second, as a commodity, gold HAS a source of revenue besides the investors; namely, the purchases by consumers like jewelers and industry,
This is a point that always gets brought up in discussions of gold. It is wrong and practically dishonest. Gold as jewelry does NOT drive the value of gold, by and large. And even if it DOES, the valuing of gold as jewelry material over any other similar-colored material is itself non-intrinsic/socially constructed. People like to own gold jewelry for the same reason people like to own bitcoin.