> It's not yet clear whether BTC is a currency, a buy-and-hold investment vehicle, or some schizophrenic combination of the two.
Where is gold on that spectrum? As far as I can tell, Bitcoin seems to have all the properties of gold (except that it's easier to transport.)
I'm pretty sure that gold is not considered to be a "currency" in any sense in the modern era; it's traded as a commodity, like oil. But people still can use it (or any other commodity, like oil--or, say, laundry detergent[1]) for under-the-table anonymous transactions as well.
"Bitcoin seems to have all the properties of gold"
It's an interesting analogy, though there are a few key differences. Gold is a physical good, it has industrial uses, and it can be made into other materials and value-added goods (jewelry, etc.). There's no intrinsic value to gold (aside from the aforementioned industrial uses), other than the fact that it's rare, shiny, and resistant to tarnish.
Once the world moved away from the gold standard, gold ceased to function like a currency and started functioning almost strictly as a commodity. The distinction between the two depends on liquidity, which depends on how freely gold can be converted for goods and services in most markets (it can't).
Interestingly, most people who buy "gold" don't actually take possession of the material; they buy and sell contracts based on gold, or they buy and sell funds invested in gold-mining operations. The idea that people can just buy strips or bars of gold, and use them to transact, is theoretically true, but practically very difficult.
[On a side note: quite a few of the people buying "gold" under the auspices that it'll hold its value if/when a Great Depression, WW3, nuclear apocalypse, etc., takes place, would be in for a rude awakening if such a scenario came to pass. Most of them don't have the actual metal, and they almost certainly wouldn't be able to access it if the shit hit the fan].
The gold analogy is apt, but I think diamonds are a more apt analogy. Diamonds capture the "value is what people are willing to pay" aspect better than gold does.
Where is gold on that spectrum? As far as I can tell, Bitcoin seems to have all the properties of gold (except that it's easier to transport.)
I'm pretty sure that gold is not considered to be a "currency" in any sense in the modern era; it's traded as a commodity, like oil. But people still can use it (or any other commodity, like oil--or, say, laundry detergent[1]) for under-the-table anonymous transactions as well.
[1] http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/03/12/031212-news-tide-the...