Bitcoin is dubbed as the digital gold. Bitcoin is a decentralized open source digital currency which operates independently without the interference of banking or financial institutions. Unlike traditional fiat currency, Bitcoin doesn’t need a trusted party to facilitate transactions as the members of the network themselves act like one.
Bitcoin and Gold have many similarities. They both hold a unique position of being an alternative investment option for individuals as well as organizations. To an extent, they are not directly impacted by the performance of fiat currencies as they have a value of their own. However, the price fluctuation may be observed when a Gold-Fiat Currency pair is analyzed, due to variations in the value of fiat currency at any given time. These similarities between gold and bitcoin make them great assets for investment purpose.
Bitcoin also exhibits various characteristics associated with ideal money. The digital currency satisfies the following 8 qualities in varying degrees.
-General acceptability
-Durability
-Portability
-Homogeneity
-Divisibility
-Malleability
-Cognizability
-Stability of Value
Even though gold satisfies most of the parameters, it becomes impractical to use gold in the day to day situations as one can’t weigh the exact quantity of gold and pay for the merchandise they buy in shops and marketplaces. Also, online transactions with gold are not quite possible either.
Just like the way we buy bitcoin from bitcoin exchanges, even gold bullion can be bought online. There are many bullion platforms that allow people to invest in gold and other precious metals where people can just purchase the precious metal. They can either choose to get the bullion shipped to their address, or let the platform hold it for them in their vault.
There are many bullion platforms that now allows buyers to pay with bitcoin as well. Though it is a recent addition, the inclusion of bitcoin payments is an advantage to both parties. Buyers can make an immediate purchase at a lesser price than other modes of payments. They will also be able to avail much lower and higher buying limits than those who use conventional payment methods.
Some of the leading bitcoin-accepting bullion trading platforms include JMBullion, SchiffGold, Veldt Gold, GoldSilverBitcoin and BitGild. JMBullion recently added the bitcoin payment option to its platform. This has been enabled amid the company’s recent announcement of its partnership with Bitpay, the leading bitcoin merchant payment processor to include the feature. According to the company, the minimum order size for making a purchase of gold is $100 and those paying with bitcoin will be eligible for an additional 4 percent discount on the actual billing amount. Even SchiffGold uses Bitpay service to enable bitcoin payments.
The bitcoin payment option for gold allows bitcoin users to buy bullion directly with the digital currency instead of going through the conventional channels. In addition, bitcoin payments received against an order can’t be reversed. This feature will protect the platforms from suffering chargebacks and card fraud, which otherwise will eat into the platforms’ revenues. With platforms like JMBullion and SchiffGold, the bitcoin community can readily go ahead and diversify their investments into two independent assets (bitcoin and gold) of intrinsic value.
Buying Gold with Digital Gold, it can’t get any better than this!
Ref: Similarities between Gold and Bitcoin| Characteristics of Ideal Money
