Online gold sales showing cryptocurrency sellers likely rushing into precious metals as market severely corrects

by Kenneth Schortgen, The Daily Economist:

One of the most discussed topics in the alternative financial realm is what might Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency holders do with their sudden fortunes made in the cryptocurrencies.  For early investors in the sector, spending their profits like there is no tomorrow appears to be the ‘song of the day’.
 

Lamborghinis. Diamond-encrusted jewelry fashioned into the shape of the bitcoin logo. Large homes converted into communal living spaces. These are just some of the things that the newly minted bitcoin millionaires of San Francisco spend their fortunes on – well, the comparatively small fragment that they feel comfortable spending. 

In a feature story for the New York Times, longtime tech reporter Nellie Bowles chronicles the lives of some of bitcoin’s earliest and most fanatical devotees. Many of these people – men in their earlier 20s (men control more than 90% of extant bitcoin wealth, the Times notes) – are committed to furthering the “blockchain revolution” that they believe will reshape the world. 

But for now, at least, many of them are hunkered down in living spaces with nicknames like “The crypto castle”, where they’re working on startups and telling anybody who will listen to invest. - Zerohedge

However there is another segment of cryptocurrency investors who appear to be taking their profits and moving into a different safe haven market.  And with a new report out on Jan. 17 that shows that as the cryptocurrencies experience a 50% or more correction, online sales of gold have jumped over 400% during that same period.

Gold coin sales jumped fivefold on Tuesday at one of Europe’s largest online dealers as Bitcoin suffered its biggest selloff since December. 

The company sold almost 30 kilograms, worth $1.2 million in the spot market, director Daniel Marburger said. Bitcoin dropped 23 percent on Tuesday and slid to within $8 of the $10,000 level today. About $300 billion was knocked off the global market for digital assets in the last three days, shaking investors in the nascent market. 

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