Goldman Sachs: Gold Will Take Over Bitcoin
In its latest forecast for safe-haven assets, Goldman Sachs predicts a long descent for gold to the tune of “In Gold we trust!”, and for the lender, the precious metal will outperform Bitcoin in the long run.
Omen nomen, the Latin expression fits perfectly as far as Goldman Sachs‘ latest prognosis is concerned.
The American investment bank has gone so far as to enter into statements that have caused a stir around the topic of Gold and Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Magazine, which reported the news in a tweet, soon made the publication go viral, generating an echo that opened debate among industry insiders.
In the long term, the American financial giant expects the value of Gold to surpass Bitcoins.
To understand the basis of this externalization and the probability of its occurrence, it is necessary to go to the roots of the problem and the origin of the digital currency.
Goldman Sachs: Gold (XAU) Will Outpace Bitcoin
As we know, for almost the entire history of mankind, both during the barter period and later when gold was given the status of the reference value for trade, the precious metal was the object of everyone’s desires because of its recognized function and some other properties. .
The ore was not functional for building weapons but had other properties that make it unique, first of all it is a scarce commodity, there is a certain amount of gold in the world, it is very rare and requires time and energy to be found or mined.
In addition to being rare, it is easily exchangeable and malleable, it can be made into coins or bars and traded, plus it is a durable commodity even if it is difficult to transport in large quantities.
In the long run, the value of gold tends to rise precisely because of the characteristics described above, and this makes it possible to compare with the digital currency.
Bitcoin was born precisely as a surrogate for gold and as an instrument of freedom to replace fiat currencies which are centralized in nature and therefore subject to the will of central banks.
When Satoshi created the currency, Satoshi gave Bitcoin the same characteristics as Gold by fixing the things it didn’t perform for, such as how easy it was to move large amounts.
Moving gold reserves in times of war was often a problem for the powerful and involved well-thought-out plans and all-important logistics, whereas for Bitcoin all it takes is a wallet on a flash drive and that’s it.
In addition to this divergence, compared to gold today, but also how it was conceived in the gold standard, Bitcoin is totally decentralized and exempt from any form of manipulation.
The final amount of total Bitcoin (21 million) is the last feature that makes the cryptocurrency the logical evolution despite the fact that the scarcity feature is also present in gold.
But what made such a prominent and internationally recognized investment bank believe that in the long and very long term, gold will outperform crypto?
Goldman Sachs analysts’ reasons
The real reason for this prediction is the concreteness of gold, gold is a physical commodity that needs very high temperatures to be processed and melted down, and in a time of war winds, the bank believes that its value can rise gradually over time.
Gold is seen as an anchor by Goldman Sachs that can save humanity in the event of a nuclear holocaust.
The gloomy hypothesis finds confirmation in the nuclear threat repeatedly feared by the Russian leader Vladimir Putin but also by others before him such as e.g Kim Jong Sun and Iran just to name a few.
However, the nuclear threat is not the only hypothesis, as many believe that central banks will outlive gold and will be tempted to return to some kind of gold standard with CBDCs.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is back at $16305.99 as I write and Gold is at $1781.88, a long way from the cryptocurrency’s value.
Goldman Sachs’ statement appears absurd and also causes a stir due to the difference in current value, but in a world that is increasingly being whipped by the winds of war and pandemics, the situation is still uncertain and the scenario the bank is betting on is precisely one in which Gold comes out on top .