Another Score:  5/9/12

          year ago    now       delta mult
BTC     3.75         5.03       + 1.34
Gold    1510         1590      + 1.05


--------------------------
ref (for future updates):
http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#czsg2011-05-08zeg2011-05-08ztgSzm1g10zm2g25zv  (change date)
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html  (hist cgi at bottom)
mult=now/year_ago

Bitcoin will only be treated as a serious currency if it's noticed by the general public, and it will only be noticed by the general public if the price of it heads a lot higher. Its as simple as that  

ALL asset classes are moving counter to the USD EXCEPT Bitcoin.  This is a positive as far as I'm concerned.

Somewhere in the last few post the difference between Bitcoins and Gold was (re-re-re)discovered and (once again!) stated, so I will repeat:

Bitcoins are a means of MOVING value.
Gold/Silver are a means of STORING value (silver less so than gold imho).

With metals, I have no idea how much supply is around and how much will be found in the future (and at what rate). Counterfeiting can also be a problem. There are tons of other advantages since it is easy to store anywhere, cannot be confiscated etc. So technically, Bitcoin is superior to fulfill a role as a store of value.

Also, have you looked at a long-term Bitcoin chart? I say Bitcoin is Gold 2.0.

Why not? Because you say so? Bitcoin seems to work as a long-term store of value very well so far.

I think Bitcoin makes Gold (as a money) obsolete.

Gold was used as a money. It only stopped being used because it is inferior to paper and electronic money since it is a pain to handle.

I still don’t get what you mean with the storage thing. In how far is Gold different?

Gold cannot offer me certainty over its (future) supply. Gold cannot offer me the ability to transport and store vast quantities cheaply and without worries. Gold cannot offer me the ability to not have it confiscated by a government. Gold cannot offer me the ability to easily liquidate it at anytime.

In short, Gold loses out in pretty much every respect in comparison to Bitcoin. The only two downsides are its short history so far and its dependance on the Internet.

BTW, you are telling me Bitcoin is so volatile while promoting Silver and Gold as a store of value. You should take a look at both their long-term graphs, particularly silver.

You can wait a few thousand years if you like, I for one consider Bitcoin a superior long-term store of value right now.

Methinks someone may be pushing his signature product. That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering I'm in favor of PMs as much as Bitcoin; just an observation.

Although I do not 'advocate' Bitcoin...at least not for very many people...I do personally use it as a 'store of value'.  I prefer gold in this role and use gold as my primary vehicle for storing value, but Bitcoin has some features that are simply not practical with gold, at least not at my scale.  Chief among these is that I could wash up on a random foreign shore with nothing but the shirt on my back and have a pretty good potential to be able to access whatever value I have 'stored' in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is vastly more complex than gold and thus has more failure modes.  It's also, in it's (brief) history, more volatile.  This is why I treat BTC as a 'store of value' for corner case long-shot needs and as a relatively small fraction of my savings.

The very same BTC I use as a 'store of value' is simultaneously used as a highly speculative gamble.  I see no reason why almost any asset or item needs to be pigeon-holed into one category, or why the function needs to be set in stone as conditions evolve.  Gold is relatively static in it's role which is one of the reasons it is particularly appealing.

Where do you keep your wallet.dat's?  I guess I should put an encrypted copy online someplace, lol..  Just in case I have to wash up on a foreign shore with nothing but the shirt on my back (can I have a USB stick in my shirt pocket??)