Bitcoin vs Gold

[railfancwb]

Some folks are saying Bitcoin is a better investment than physical gold - especially in crisis situations.

If I have invested in physical gold coins - or even so-called junk silver US coins - I can spend them in a crisis situation.

If I have invested in Bitcoin and the internet goes down and stays down for an extended time during a crisis situation can I spend any Bitcoin?

[janice6]

Bitcoin is an abstract concept. Gold and precious metals are a reality.

[Eric]

If it were me, I'd stick with tangible, portable wealth. Personally, if I were buying gold, I would stick to gold coins minted by the US, GB, Canada and a handful of other countries that mint a lot of gold coinage. If you ever need to spend that gold for goods, people are much more likely to trust coins minted by US or similarly recognized coins than gold rounds, bars and other types of bullion. 

If you are going to buy gold to hedge against really bad times, be sure to buy silver too. The silver would be more tradable. The gold would do you for bigger transactions, but I would think the silver would be more readily spendable and accepted by people for smaller deals. I would buy a lot of silver and most or all of it would be US 1964 and older 90% half-dollars, quarters and dimes. Even if someone doesn't trust you or the government, they are apt to trust those 90% coins. 90% silver is readily available and for a lower premium than you would have to pay for Silver Eagles or similar coins and people will probably have more confidence in the 90% coinage than they would in most other types of silver bullion.

90% silver coinage is usually sold at X times the fast value. Right now I think it is selling for around 19X face value, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't worry about condition, except that I would avoid culls. You can get a shitload of 90% silver for what even a modest amount of gold will cost you and it will be more readily tradable, IMO. Obviously, the volume and weight of the silver would be an issue if you buy a bunch of it, so you would probably need to find a balance between the portability of the gold and the tradability of the silver.

As for Bitcoins, I don't know a hell of a lot about it, but I know computers and I personally would not park more money in it than you can easily afford to lose. There is very little regulation governing it, which appeals to a lot of people, but with that limited regulation comes little or no protection for your investment. This is just my opinion though and should be taken as such. I know a fair bit about gold & silver though and I trust it. 

[ChuteTheMall]

Regarding junk silver, I think Mercury dimes and Franklin half dollars might be the most recognizable as being genuine 90% silver.

Although pre-65 Roosevelt dimes and Washington quarters are also 90% silver, they continued to be produced after the silver was removed in '65, so they require closer examination and informed consumers.  Harder to recognize by candlelight if you can't replace your eyeglasses.

Of course, earlier coin designs with 90% silver hold their value, but are becoming rare so they cost a premium. Rarity just complicates things.

$5 face value of junk silver runs about $100 now, so that buys a roll of dimes or half a roll of quarters. YMMV.

[Huaco Kid]

Ammo.

All kinds.

[gwalchmai]

I have an old IDE HD in my attic with, IDK, probably a thousand bitcoins or so on it, give or take. I can't remember how to access them and don't really want to bother, but just cause I'm a nice guy I'll let it go cheap, like a few gold bars... 

[minderasr]

3 hours ago, Huaco Kid said:

Ammo.

All kinds.

I used to tell my ex-brother in law (who stocked up on prep-food).  You have food, I have ammo...I have your food.

[minderasr]

Also, I've been following silver prices for a long time.  Was particularly interested in silver eagles.  My problem was too much thought and not enough action.  I kick myself in the ass for not buying silver when it was $12-14/oz.  Every time it crept up in price, I told myself I'd buy when it dropped.  Big mistake.  Now it's running ~$28/oz.

https://silverprice.org/

[Eric]

5 hours ago, ChuteTheMall said:

Regarding junk silver, I think Mercury dimes and Franklin half dollars might be the most recognizable as being genuine 90% silver.

Although pre-65 Roosevelt dimes and Washington quarters are also 90% silver, they continued to be produced after the silver was removed in '65, so they require closer examination and informed consumers.  Harder to recognize by candlelight if you can't replace your eyeglasses.

Of course, earlier coin designs with 90% silver hold their value, but are becoming rare so they cost a premium. Rarity just complicates things.

$5 face value of junk silver runs about $100 now, so that buys a roll of dimes or half a roll of quarters. YMMV.

One really easy way to spot a 90% silver coin vs a copper/nickel coin is to simply drop it a few inches onto a hard surface. Nothing else sounds like a silver coin. You can drop a whole handful of change on a counter and hear one silver coin among it.

 

[jmohme]

And what noise does a Bitcoin make when dropped?

I know very little about Bitcoin, other than that I don't want to know much about it.  Maybe I am being foolish about it, but it isn't the first thing that I have survived being foolish about.

[Eric]

1 hour ago, jmohme said:

And what noise does a Bitcoin make when dropped?

I know very little about Bitcoin, other than that I don't want to know much about it.  Maybe I am being foolish about it, but it isn't the first thing that I have survived being foolish about.

 

 

[minderasr]

15 hours ago, Eric said:

 

 

Orange juice on keyboard!