After the recent meteoric rise (and subsequent crash) of Bitcoins we thought it would be useful to pull together an infographic comparing the 3000 year old form of money, with the up-start and very young (5 years) ‘new’ form of money.
Some have even gone so far as to describe Bitcoins as ‘digital gold’ – but is this really a fair comparison? Below we present a head-to-head match-up between the new digital currency and the oldest form of money on the planet.
As you’ll see Bitcoins are certainly an very interesting development in the creation of money, especially given their decentralised nature and the fact that no ‘central bank’ is in control of their development. In that sense they are a true ‘free-market’ phenomenon.
But in a few key areas gold still possesses crucial advantages over the digital upstart currency.
Recently one of the most famous gold bugs on the planet, ex-congressman Ron Paul, had the following to say about Bitcoins:
“To tell you the truth, it’s little bit too complicated. If I can’t put it in my pocket, I have some reservations about that. But it has been designed in the free market. If it is a means of exchange, it would not ever be illegal. You shouldn’t regulate it in the free market, but I do not think it fits the definition of money, which has been around for 6000 years. People want to see something they can know what it is, they can define it, touch it and put in their pocket.
If you do not have a computer and someone running the computer and calculations, you don’t have it. I am not a big supporter of that, but I am not opposed to it. I admit, I do not fully understand what is going on with it.”
