In what respects can they be said to be similar? In what regards are they comparable? To address these questions we have to take a look at how gold and bitcoins function. To briefly summarise their characteristics, they both provide a store of value which is subject to increasing demand from users worldwide, both in terms of private investors and governments, both of whom wish to gain a wider understanding of how their respective assets perform when they are in the hands of users.
But gold is a store of value which is not necessarily tied to any particular commodity. In what respects are bitcoins similar to a gold standard? In what respects can they be said to function as a store of value? Both bitcoins and gold are asset classifications which provide secure storage of value, but the differences between them can be examined in greater detail below. Both are used as a means of payment in online markets, but the way in which they operate is quite different.
The first similarity between the two is that the objective of bitcoins is the same as that of the gold standard. This is to provide a form of worldwide payment in situations where access to traditional banking services is limited or unavailable. In this respect the two are converging: with the growth of the internet worldwide, there has been a reduced demand for bank accounts, and in this context a “digital gold standard” can be seen as being equivalent to the original gold standard. Even though no formal definition of digital gold standard exists, it is often referred to as a worldwide version of the gold standard, because the ability to use electronic money has made it seem like something of a replacement for the traditional monetary units.
The second similarity between the two assets is that in both cases the supply of the asset is constrained by the expansion of the number of people who can take it and spend it. Unlike gold payments, which increase in value as the number of physical items increases, the supply of bitcoins is likely to remain fixed since its creation in 2021. This is a constraint on the supply of the asset, which can be seen as the result of the lack of elasticity in the money supply. As a result, any expansion of the supply of the asset is matched by an equivalent contraction of the number of buyers, reducing the supply of bitcoins and potentially causing them to become worthless.
Another similarity between the two assets is that the value of each is highly dependent on the perception of others. In the case of the gold standard, the perception was that the price of the asset was essentially based on the perception of others. This meant that if someone else saw that you had some dollars, they would think that you had a lot of gold. If you had ten dollars, then they might think that you owned a lot of gold, which might drive up the price of the gold you were trying to sell. At the same time, if others thought that you had nothing but air, you would have nothing to sell and your gold might become worth very little, or even nothing at all.
In the case of the BIS, the perception is that the supply of bitcoins is determined by non-monetary factors, such as the political situations of different countries. In this respect, the BIS has been criticized by commentators as being largely irrelevant in its role as a hedge instrument. However, the bitcoin system also includes the elements of gold as well, which provides investors with a potentially useful second layer of protection against currency risk. It also provides a kind of “backside-effect” for investors who do not wish to have to rely exclusively on the traditional methods of dealing in gold (such as gold bars or coins).
When looking at the fundamental differences between the gold standard and the modern system of trading bitcoins, there are some important points of similarity. Both rely on the ability to make accurate predictions about the movements in prices. They both allow for the transfer of large amounts of money from one place to another without the need for a third party. But in contrast to the gold standard, the present system allows for relatively fast transactions, and this makes it an attractive option for those who are interested in investing in the stock markets. Moreover, the lack of a central body makes it possible for users of the internet to participate in the trading process online, something that was not possible with the gold standard.
The main difference between the gold standard and the more popular method of trading bitcoins is that the latter relies on factors beyond the control of the buyer, and so opens itself up to possibilities like front running and corruption. The gold standard is also based on a foreign exchange, which for obvious reasons limits its influence to buyers and sellers on one side of the global market and to specific governments and their interest groups on the other. The current system of trading bitcoins is much more democratic and relies less on political factors than most people imagine.
The post Are You Considering Trading bitcoins? appeared first on TradingGator.
source https://tradinggator.com/are-you-considering-trading-bitcoins/
No comments:
Post a Comment