China discovers giant gold reserve, as bitcoin shortage becomes increasingly prominent

China has discovered a huge gold deposit with reserves estimated at more than 1,000 tons, as reported by the Geological Bureau of Hunan province, in the center of the Asian country. The monumental discovery could have repercussions on the global commodity market (raw material or basic product, in Spanish), where the yellow metal competes with bitcoin (BTC), both considered a store of value.

The discovery of the enormous gold treasure was valued at $83 billion, according to information shared Thursday by Chinese media. They claim that geologists They found more than 40 veins of gold, with a reserve of 300 tonsat a depth of 2,000 meters beneath the Wangu field in Pingjiang county. They highlight that this deposit is not only notable for the amount of gold detected, but also for its potential, since it is estimated that it has a large, still unknown reserve.

With this new discovery, China strengthens its position in the gold market. And although it is difficult to determine the true global supply of gold, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that, to date, Around 244,000 metric tons of this precious metal have been found all over the world. Therefore, the new discovery would be increasing the total supply of gold by 0.123%.

This discovery occurs in a context in which the price of gold has experienced a notable increase. This is driven by the fact that many investors are turning to it as a long-term store of value, especially in times of stratospheric government debt, as reported by NoticiasVE.

Within this framework, central banks around the world are accumulating the precious metal in their reserves at record levels. To the point that central banks currently have 12.1% of world gold reserves in their hands, the highest level since 1990. For these reasons, the price of an ounce of gold has risen more than 30% so far. It dates back to 2024 and is at historical highs (ATH).

And as the price of gold reaches new heights, something similar is happening with bitcoin, as it is about to reach $100,000. However, while a new deposit increases the supply of gold, the pioneering digital currency becomes scarcer, precisely because the principle of scarcity is established in its code. This, although they continue to be issued, given that more than 4,200 bitcoins are mined every day.

One of the characteristics of bitcoin is that it is a limited edition asset. This makes it a unique asset among those known. Therefore, there can only be a fixed amount of bitcoins, 21 million coins.

Additionally, there is the number of bitcoins lost, of which the current figure is estimated to be 20% of all existing bitcoins. This translates to approximately 3.7 million BTC, an amount that increases over time when taking into account that new bitcoins are constantly lost. Either due to forgotten passwords, lost keys and other factors that contribute to shortages.

In any case, the discovery of large deposits of gold shows that bitcoin is the only asset in the world that has an absolute shortage, as Camilo Jurajuría detailed in an opinion article in which he talked about the halving, the event, scheduled in the code, which divides the reward miners receive. The last of these events occurred last April, reducing the reward from 6.25 to 3.125 bitcoins per block, decreasing the amount of BTC entering circulation.