With even Bitcoin and its new spin-off Bitcoin cash proving that cryptocurrencies do not necessarily remain limited in supply since that determination is completely in the hands of their primary crypto miners, gold still remains the world's best store of wealth to the majority of individuals.
In fact new information out of China late last month seems to indicate that gold production may have hit its peak in recent years as the world's largest producer of the precious metal saw their output fall by 9.5% in the first quarter of this year.
Chinese gold imports jumped 64.5% on an annual basis in Q1 2017, while the production of the yellow metal tumbled 9.3%, as the world’s top gold producer and consumer phased out older production facilities and miners faced lower gold prices, this according to a statement released by the China Gold Association (CGA).
The drastic rise in imports was triggered by a supply and demand gap created between January and March of this year, CGA explained on Friday, adding that imports totaled 10.5 metric tons in Q1 as compared to last year’s first quarter.
Quarterly output was down at 101.2 metric tons as compared to Q1 2016 figure of 111.6 metric tons, the association said. - Kitco
Yet even as global gold production continues to decline while demand once again ramps up following a short six month pullback, on the cryptocurrency side of the house the number of virtual currencies being created is accelerating at a fast clip, prompting many in the industry to believe they will surpass 1000 unique cryptos by the end of the year, and have that number double and double again over the next few years.
This of course will lead to a huge saturation in the cryptocurrency sphere, with savers and investors unsure of the viability of some cryptos as a long-term store of wealth.
Aside from direct competitors like Ethereum, Pal points out that the Indians have already shifted to a cashless society. “This was the great Western Union/Swift payment system we were going to dump on Bitcoin. Well, India went and did it for 1.1 billion people. It’s 50 times faster than Bitcoin, and it’s rolled out and working now.”
If anybody can do it—and do it better and faster—then maybe it’s not that interesting, he concludes.
It looks like cryptocurrencies are becoming a dime a dozen. So far in 2017, there have been about 20 initial coin offerings (ICOs) per month. An ICO is the cryptocurrency equivalent of an IPO in stocks. That means approximately 140 new cryptocurrencies have been launched in 2017… and we’re not even at the end of the year. - Forbes