Bitcoin: “Like gold with wings”

Many investors consider the Bitcoin crypto money to be highly speculative – but according to author Saifedean Ammous, the currency is harder than gold. In ten years it has already risen by 18 million percent. Neither another crypto currency nor another asset has ever managed to do this. Its uniqueness:

It is a very hard currency, because the maximum amount of coins is limited, the amount supplied decreases incrementally over time, and this supply cannot be controlled by anyone. This makes the Bitcoin unique not only among crypto currencies, but also among normal currencies and other financial assets. The amount of new Bitcoins is independent of the demand, only the pre-determined amount can be created.

Couldn’t we also switch to other crypto currencies?

That would no longer be the same. The Bitcoin is also the only crypto currency that is based on a completely neutral protocol that cannot be changed by anyone and does not belong to anyone. Its code is also open source, which means that it is not secret and can be viewed by anyone. Together with its limitations, the Bitcoin differs fundamentally from all other currencies.

And which of these characteristics qualifies the Bitcoin as a possible future gold standard?

Its quality to be finite. Since the production rate of new Bitcoins halves every four years, it will even be lower than that of gold in the future. Imagine now, we have discovered a new chemical element that is like gold, perhaps even harder than gold. And it also has the ability to be on the other side of the world in a few clicks. In that sense, the Bitcoin is like gold with wings. If you use such a unit as the basic standard of the monetary system, then no one, neither policy nor central bank, can simply print money for whatever reason. This even makes the Bitcoin a better and, above all, more neutral value store in the end. And like gold, the Bitcoin cannot break, rust or corrode.

Could individual governments not want to stop such a development?

It is not possible to say exactly whether the Bitcoin is safe from governments. But it is global, which would make it difficult for individual governments to completely ban Bitcoins.