Is Bitcoin the new gold?

I’ve always avoided giving financial advice. Not my job and just too much responsibility.

When it comes to such a thing, I just stick to what I know well which is economic collapse. It’s what I went through and it’s what I’ve researched over the years.

When it comes to an economic collapse there are a few basic points to keep in mind.

When everything is going to hell, you can count on banks screwing you to save themselves. Closed doors and a “Me speako no English” sign on it… in New York City. Frozen accounts, conversion to new currencies worth a fraction of what the original one was worth.

Precious metals provide a hedge against hyperinflation or full economic collapse. They are an established commodity over thousands of years, accepted as something that holds intrinsic value. IT doesn’t matter if it’s just a chunk of metal. In our minds, and now for thousands of years, “its worth its weight in gold”. And oil is worth its weight in oil, so are cereals, beans and so on.

And then there’s bitcoin. A complex cryptocurrency which most people don’t even fully understand what it is. The only way to understand more is to spend several hours, maybe several days reading up. What’s important to understand is that Bitcoin is a commodity. The best way to describe it would be the digital gold of the internet era.

No, its not gold, nor is it silver. The piece silver in my pocket, a 1964 Kennedy half dollar, is material, tangible, but that doesn’t mean Bitcoin isn’t valuable as well. What it lacks in tangible peace of mind it has in liquidity. Its easy to move around, access and sell all over the world. Its not controlled by anyone, no government. For Bitcoin you’ll need a Bitcoin wallet. Which one?  I’m not affiliated in any way to any of them and cant recommend a specific one. Just look online and go for the one with the best reputation.

When asked for financial advice I’ve always kept a pretty conservative position. Diversify, some cash is important, very important actually. Some money in the bank, some money in a bank in a different country, some precious metals, investing in reliable stocks, investing in good real estate. And yes, putting some money in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has been going up non stop this year. Will it stop and drop? Probably. Will it go up even more in the long run, maybe a LOT more? I think that’s very likely. While its digital nature means there’s always the risk of hacking or other tech related problems, its ability to be moved around, the market for it, easily converted to different currencies and increased acceptance are advantages worth noticing.

FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”