Bitcoin is not worth approx. $ 580 today, it is worth 13.5 g of 24 K Gold!!
Nobody would argue that gold is bad, right? Gold is Awesome! Gold will always be worth something .. it is safe, and that is why investors flee to it in times of uncertainty. Many know the history of gold and how we were moved to issued dollars and cents, and how that has been the greatest and entirely successful hijacking of human wealth in history - yes, they got away with it and they are still very much AWAY WITH IT!
As history has proved, we can not trust governments or banks to store it for us, issuing chits representing ownership of said gold, so it can be traded and generally 'banked-upon' - that is what got us into the mess we are in now. The Gold that traders are moving on the markets is supposedly tied to 'real' gold stored in 'real' vaults - this is highly doubtful, but also irrelevant for trading purposes.
Last year I joined BitGold (now GoldMoney), thinking I could move my money back and forth between Bitcoin and Gold as easily as I can move it between Bitcoin wallets; this turned out not to be the case. Gold bought with Bitcoin was stored in only one place, Dubai, and could only be withdrawn in fiat directly to a bank account. This was very disappointing - the good thing about BitGold, is that they would actually ship you your physical gold, above a minimum amount, on demand - so you can get the pretty stuff in the palm of your hand.
Of course, daytraders do not care about such things - they are not going to have anything that they have purchased delivered to their door any time soon. Traders happily move around digital representations, frequently clearing all positions before they go to bed at night, only to begin the process again the next day. I for one think it is very cool that we can profit from the artificiality of the financial system, as the big players do 24/7, at greater than light-speeds, and in mostly by entirely automated means.
This is what people keep trying to describe Bitcoin as: oh, it's digital .. just 1s and 0s, not real! What makes anything we 'believe' of value, valuable, is that it can be exchanged, for something deemed of equal value, or to pay for goods and services - we can do this with Bitcoin, so it is very real. The fully transparent nature of the Blockchain, and algorithmically built-in-scarcity, the fact that it is divisible, the fact that there can be no 'fake' Bitcoin, no fake transactions, no 'extra' Bitcoin created out of thin air .. makes it superior in everyway to the monopoly money in our wallets..
You see, the worst part is if you buy gold, have a substantial holding, and say a depression hits, or worse, total economic collapse, you say .. "SHIT! I better get my gold!" Where do you go, and will 'they' give it to you when you get there?
Remember all those people in Cyprus, going to the bank to pull their money out, or exchange it into something else, and when they got there they were informed that nearly 50% of their hard-earned money had been taken by the state! http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/07/29/bank-of-cyprus-depositors-lose-savings/2595837/ .. this happened with Gold as well at one time ..
In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (using the "Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917") issued an executive order on April 5, 1933 (Please see original U.S. post office poster) requiring that less than a month later on or before May 1,1933, all persons in possession or control of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates (i.e. paper currency redeemable in gold coin of the United States) to turn them in to any federal reserve bank or any "member bank" of the Federal Reserve system.
Nevermind economic collapse ..what if the government just wanted to fuck with 'you', and only 'you' - maybe they found out about all the STEEM Power you have and charge you with tax evasion, eventually seize all your "real assets"?
Gold is not accessible, not easily transferable, and not easily transmittable - Bitcoin is, on all counts. If we suffer a collapse we won't be reaching into a satchel to retrieve shards of gold to be weighed at the pharmacy.
BUT..
Gold is a timeless and reliable store of real value, this has always been the case and always will be - that is why, for all the differences between, the similarities create a natural familial link between Bitcoin and Gold, and in this relationship, the US Dollar should be an undesirable, but sadly still necessary, 3rd-party.
The only problem that those perpetuating the Gold vs Bitcoin comparison, keep going to, is price instability. Well, we have to ask ourselves .. unstable compared to what? The US Dollar? People, let us turn this comparison around, change our mindset - think of 'Bitcoin' as the backbone by which all else is measured, not the US Dollar!
You see, when I signed up for BitGold I envisioned a future where Bitcoin's value was measured by gold weight, which could in-turn be said to be worth so much in US Dollars. I thought Gold-Bitcoin was a much better relationship, and much better at describing the nature and 'true value' of Bitcoin.
Therefore, I tell you that today, Bitcoin is worth 13.5 g of 24 Karat Gold - or 65.79 K. Demand this recognition, use it, and do all that you can to hide your Bitcoin from the powers-that-be - lock some of its value away in gold, but as much as possible, do not cash it into dollars and blow it - the faster we leave the US Dollar behind, the closer we are to freeing ourselves - if we succeed there is a high-probability that Bitcoin will become the currency of the land.
P.S. No, DASH will not be.