Why Bitcoin Outshines Gold as Store of Value
Sell Bitcoin for Gold? Analyst Advises Caution
Bitcoin maximalist and market analyst Matthew Kratter argues that Bitcoin’s core attributes position it as a superior long-term store of value compared to gold. He strongly recommends that BTC investors avoid selling their holdings to chase gold’s recent surge past $4,000 per ounce.
Bitcoin excels as a store of value due to its scarcity, ease of portability, verifiability, divisibility, and other essential qualities of sound money, according to Kratter. He points out that gold’s supply has grown by 1-2% each year for decades or even centuries, causing the total supply to double approximately every 47 years.
This gradual inflation can accelerate dramatically with the discovery of major new gold deposits buried in the Earth’s crust or even located in outer space, Kratter notes. He references historical precedent, explaining how the 16th-century influx of gold from the Americas into Europe triggered rampant inflation that ultimately undermined the Spanish and Portuguese empires.
The chart illustrates a notable divergence in 2025 between gold’s traditional candlestick price movements and Bitcoin’s performance depicted in orange.
Debates persist among market experts over whether gold or Bitcoin serves better as a store of value and medium of exchange. Bitcoin proponents view BTC as the next evolutionary stage in monetary history, while gold advocates contend that Bitcoin remains too nascent and price-volatile to reliably hold value over time.
Gold’s Limitations in a Digital Economy
Transporting and insuring substantial quantities of gold proves extremely costly, rendering it inefficient for balancing international trade deficits, Kratter emphasizes. Even modest amounts face challenges in highly monitored settings like airports, while large shipments become practically unfeasible.
Gold’s tangible nature renders it wholly incompatible with internet-based transactions and digital value transfer systems essential to modern finance, he asserts.
The graphic contrasts the key properties of spot Bitcoin against physical gold.
Unlike Bitcoin, gold cannot be transmitted digitally over the internet. Tokenized gold offerings, where custodians hold physical bullion backed by blockchain representations, carry significant counterparty risks, Kratter warns. Potential issues include issuers over-minting tokens beyond available reserves, denying redemptions for physical delivery, or governments seizing the underlying holdings.
