Gold is a tangible precious metal whereas Bitcoin is digital. The similarities between them run deep; they are both mined, one physically, the other digitally. Yet if we look closely at the history of gold, Bitcoin is displaying the same behaviour pattern as we’ve seen for gold.
Prices soared in 1971, when President Richard Nixon announced that the US dollar would no longer be backed by gold, as demand outstripped supply. A major development in March 2003 saw the first gold-backed ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) from the Australian Stock Exchange; the people behind this were the Rothchilds of Deutsche Bank. This caused gold to skyrocket from around $20-$30 an ounce to $600 an ounce, an increase of 300%. Before the first gold ETF, it wasn’t easy to invest in gold. It was easy to buy gold, but the then there was the cost of acquisition and storage. The ETF allowed you to own gold without actually owning it physically.
If a Bitcoin ETF is approved, this could be major news for Bitcoin fans. Bitcoin could get ETF approval as early as August 16 2018, though nothing is confirmed just yet. When it was introduced for gold, we saw a massive increase in the price of gold by 300%. If we saw the same increase for Bitcoin, then this would put the price per Bitcoin at $60,000, which some well known investors are predicting.
If Bitcoin does increase to $60,000, this would give us a market cap of $1.26 trillion. We could be looking at a 940% return on the current price of $7000. The market cap for gold is estimated at $8.7 trillion with all the gold that’s been mined.
Investing in Bitcoin is not without operational risks, but if it gets clearer regulation, then this could help protect shareholders.
