What about when we can mine space rocks for gold and others?
Discussion
Increasing the supply of gold still comes at a great cost but, yes, bitcoin shines in the area od scarcity.
One area where gold (and silver) shines is in the physical realm without the need for an internet connection. Bitcoin naturaly dominates in the digital realm.
The point being is that they can both be useful tools due to their unique properties and there is no "either/or".
For example, smaller, in-person transactions can be handled with silver which is a true bearer instrument that is untraceable cash with no need for connectivity.
Small, onchain bitcoin transactions have higher cost while Layer 2 solutions require connectivity and/or rely on trusted third parties that can rug you or leak transaction data.
Also, it's nice to have a physical bearer asset to trade with when your cell phone battery dies
Space mining will be a bigger upset to the precious metals/bitcoin ratio then the conquering of South America was to the silver/gold one.
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Space mining comes at what cost, at what reward, and in what time frame?
Market prices will adjust to any new supply when that happens, thus reducing the incentive to undertake the expense of continuing to mine in space.
The point is that gold and silver are still viable and affordable complimentary assets to those that require internet connectivity, trust, and high transaction fees
The short answer would be that there will never be more than 21M bitcoin. There are ways to exchange sats without internet, I'm sure you're aware of this. I'm a former gold and silver enthusiast. Gold is great for audio conductors and silver make great plumbing. As for your requested time-frame, well, be ready for some news later this decade.
Yes, maybe in a decade. Until then, precious metals are a great form of cash accessible to everyone. Bitcoin is great too but all of these have their strengths and weaknesses. Use them for what they're worth to you
It's very complicated to verify the purity and dimensions of said metals. Back to the Lydian Empire, the coin minters were using some of the ideas of Pythagoras to mess with the diameter and weight. Imagine how much you can tamper with those today. For everyday transactions, în case of power or internet outages, people would rather turn to barter locally. Then again, I imagine priorities would be very different that day. Plus, just the top 10% would transact in sats in meaningful volumes anyway.
Agreed. And gold and silver are just another type of barterable commody with many characteristics that have made it the most desired commodity over the ages