While gold prices destroy new highs, many Bitcoiners are looking for ways to get exposure to precious metal, but have been identified with some obstacles along.
Although physical gold is accessible in the form of jewelry, gold bars and coins, many industry executives are concerned about aspects such as quality, liquidity when selling, and buying a premium in the upper prices of the area.
On the other hand, gold advocates are confident that precious metal is easier to buy than Bitcoin (Btc), given the complexity of Storing private keys and a steep learning curve for new crypto investors.
Both bitcoin and gold are available in the form of Tokenized possessions, Funds exchanged by exchange (ETF) and other equity instruments, but the question of possession of these possessions in physical form exposes some differences.
Community: buying bitcoin is easier and faster
“Buying Bitcoin is significantly easier and faster than buying physical gold,” Ross Shemeliak, co-founder of tokenization platform StoBox, said Cointelegraph.
He defined instant and 24/7 having bitcoin, no need for vaults, while gold is associated with additional costs such as transportation, storage, verification and resale.
Adam Lowe, chief of product at Self -customody Firm composecure, it is up to the purchase of physical gold is subject to many challenges and additional costs.
“The first is to maintain quality, ensuring purity is accurate,” Lowe said, adding that investors need to rely on the reputation of the entrepreneurs and the supply chain when buying physical gold.
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“Sale of liquidity is also an issue because you need to find a buyer and will likely pay a discount related to market prices per ounce,” he continued, adding that self-customied bitcoin is not on these issues.
As well as limited liquidity, retail investors in the physical face of gold expanded, Shemeliak said, as they often buy a premium above the gold market price.
Gold Advocate: Bitcoin’s self-custody is not easy
Unlike Crypto investors, investors and analysts of traditional finance (tradfi) are not excited about self -care opportunities offered by bitcoin.
“Bitcoin can be very easy to buy if you already have everything set up, but if you don’t, it’s very difficult,” Rafi Farber, publisher of the investor published in the end of the gold market service, Cointelegraph said.
Farber, who appeared as One of Bitcoin’s largest criticsdefined in challenges for investors around Bitcoin’s self-custody, which requires holders Safe to store the private key or risk of losing access to coins altogether.
While talking to a self-customial wallet, users need to “remember a string of random words or copy it and put it in a safe, then copy and paste a Gibberish code,” Farber said. “And if you lose any of the codes or the power comes out for whatever reason you are scared,” he added.
Farber’s concerns over self-custody’s challenges are for no reason. Trezor, one of the prominent self-custody wallet providers, has already admitted The availability remains one of the major issues Faced with self-customial wallets.
While some have tried to offer simplified self-custody optionsOthers assert that handling a private key is the only way to actually hold a cryptocurrency, which Requires onboarding and a study curve – but not come without its own costs.
Is Bitcoin a direct competitor with gold?
On the other hand, physical gold is “very easy to buy,” says Farber, suggesting options such as coins or jewelry stores.
“Yes, buying a gold coin with a jewelry or coin shop is easy – but that doesn’t mean you’ve made a smooth investment,” Stobox’s Shemeliak said:
“Without verifying origin, valid assay, secure storage, and a liquid resale market, you are likely to buy a souvenir, not a serious value store.”
“In contrast, digital assets such as Bitcoin or tokenized gold offer transparency, liquidity and preversion,” he added.
Shemeliak does not see Bitcoin and gold as direct competitors.
“Gold has always had a historical value – but Bitcoin builds a financial infrastructure over the next 100 years,” he said.
At the time of publication, the price of spot Gold stands at $ 3,327, up to almost 27% year-to-date (YTD) as it continues to destroy new highs, According to In tradingview.
The picture was less appealing for Bitcoin, which reached new highs around $ 110,000 in December 2024. Bitcoin dropped 10% YTD, trading at $ 84,525 in publication, According to In coingecko.
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