Gold and silver haven't done very well for the last 5 years. Let's say that 5 years ago a Silver Eagle was $30 and a one ounce Gold Eagle was $1700. If you bought then, you would be down. In contrast, if you bought $1700 worth of bitcoin and $30 worth of litecoin, you would be up substantially. During this time, both bitcoin and litecoin have seen drops of greater than 90%, yet they are up significantly despite the volatility, and 2014 was the only down year.

Personally, I own gold and silver and the cryptos. I doubt, though, that gold and silver will ever make the average investor wealthy. In a best case scenario for the precious metals, gold and silver escalate in price because the global financial system collapses, and the gold and silver bugs then become pseudo-barons in a Mad Max type subsistence existence world. That isn't a world I would hope for.