Is it safer to have reservations in gold or Bitcoin?

On March 2, 2025, Donald Trump announced the creation of a Bitcoin -based strategic reserve (BTC) and other cryptoactive ones in the United States. This proposal gained strength in July 2024, promoted by the senator of the Wyoming State, Cynthia Lummis.

After Trump’s confirmation, and assuming that it is finally completed and replicated in other countries, this measure could reconfigure the way in which the nations protect their economyself -test of inflation or ensure the support of their coins.

However, while Bitcoin gains land in the consideration of current companies and nations to conserve (or increase) its purchasing power, gold is used as a reserve of value and symbol of power by old people and civilizations such as the Egyptians, who began to extract it 2,000 years before Christ, To preserve your wealth.

So, at present, is a strategic reserve in gold or Bitcoin more safe? To get to an answer, before it is necessary to make some comparisons.

Bitcoin vs. Gold: a comparison in terms of shortage

Scarcity is a crucial quality for an asset to work as a value reserve, as its limited offer ensures its value and protects against inflation.

Bitcoin is designed to be intrinsically scarce thanks to its protocol and programming: it has a maximum supply of 21 million units. Its issuance rate decreases approximately every four years by halvingsreducing the reward per block mining and limiting the amount of new bitcoins that enter the market.

Those characteristics create a Predictible emission rate curve that tends towards zero. That emission curve is Look with the painted lightning area in the following Different Trading chart. The orange line (supply of BTC) expresses the current Current of Bitcoin (19,894,704 to March 3, 2025), and with the black line, the price of Bitcoin.

Gold, at present, does not have a maximum known limit in its supply, although it is limited by geological factors. Its issuance depends on mining extraction, an expensive procedure that gradually adds new reserves to the stock global.

While the growth of gold supply is limited, slower and stable than in other assetsthe offer of this metal can continue to expand as new sources of this metal are found.

In turn, the gold supply grows constantly and the annual broadcast rate (celestial area) maintains a more uniform behavior compared to that seen in Bitcoin, as can be seen in the following graph:

Bitcoin, with its maximum fixed and decreasing emission rate, is more predictable and scarce than gold.

A technological look at Bitcoin and gold

Portability and divisibility

Bitcoin’s digital nature gives him a High degree of portabilitybecause it can be practically moved in any part of the world through data networks. In addition, it is divisible into very small units, called Satoshis (0.00000001 BTC), which It facilitates transactions of different amounts with a high level of accuracy.

In contrast, gold is more difficult to transport due to its weight and volume. Its divisibility, although possible by ingots or coins of different size, implies physical processes that can be less agile and more expensive.

Transportability is a key quality for a value reserve because it allows you to move active easily when necessary. A vault with gold, for example, is difficult to transport.

Instead, Bitcoin is easily portable and accessible thanks to its digital nature, without requiring physical movements. Even if one hardware Wallet is destroyed, the funds remain safe in the direction if you have private keys, making Bitcoin practically indestructible if the keys of the exclusive headline are not violated.

Verifability

Bitcoin is based on his decentralized network, which records all transactions immutable and accessible to anyone with Internet connection. This allows you to immediately audit the total amount of bitcoin in circulation and track the history of each cryptoactive fraction.

In the case of gold, its verifiability Requires physical inspection methods and trial to confirm purity and quantity. These procedures can be slow and require trained personnel, in addition to specialized infrastructure.

For example, Cryptootics reported on February 19 that Elon Musk had questioned the integrity of the United States gold reserves, criticizing the transparency of the storage of public assets.

«Is gold still there or is it gone?»

Elon Musk, head of the Government Efficiency Department (Doge).

How are these assets stored?

In terms of storage and safety, Bitcoin and Gold have significant differences in their requirements and risks.

Bitcoin

Its storage is based on digital purses, such as hardware wallet (physical devices) software (Applications connected to the Internet). Bitcoin in a hardware Wallet implies a critical risk: lose private keys or recovery phraseonly ways to access the funds.

If the owner loses those keys, the assets are permanently inaccessible. However, while only the owner knows these keys, the theft, the loss or destruction of the physical device does not compromise the funds, since the keys and the BTC reside on the network, not on the device. Security, therefore, depends exclusively on the Personal custody of those credentials.

For its part, a hot wallet (connected to the Internet) offers the advantage of Do not require physical spacewhich simplifies its custody, use and transport. Although it is more accessible for transactions, risks include Hackeosevil programs, phishing o Failures in platform safety.

Third -party services, such as exchanges centralized or institutional custodians, offer solutions that a priori would be more practical and simple, but require confidence in the entity that manages assets.

The risks associated with delegating custody in a third are given by the possibility of bankruptcy, insolvency or even changes in the internal policies of that third that may affect the management of the funds. El Salvador, for example, protects its bitcoins in Bitgo, an American security company.

Oro

Its storage is physical, which It implies the need for security infrastructure such as safes, vaults or storage in banks or spaces designed for your shelter. This generates additional costs, both for the purchase of equipment or structures, and for custody rates in third parties.

The transport of large quantities can be logistically complex, expensive and dangerous, since it implies a possible risk of robbery. In turn, the expensive thing to transport it in bulls does it useless for the exchange of value. Gold, although tangible and less exposed to technological risks, faces challenges related to operational costs and protection spaces.

It could be said that Bitcoin offers a more efficient storage solution in terms of space and portability. However, its shelter requires, through self -ocustody, a certain level of technical knowledge, or delegate custody in third parties.

Gold is the world capitalization assets

Gold is currently the most market capitalization assets in the world, with a figure exceeding 20,000 million dollarswhile, in that list, Bitcoin is seventh, with around 1.8 billion dollars. This information can be seen through the following graph of the Trading Different platform:

A greater market capitalization, such as gold, indicates that this asset, in the eyes of investors, is endowed with greater stability, trust and ability to resist difficult economic times Without varying too much in its price.

However, when comparing the market capitalization of these assets, it is impossible not to point out that Bitcoin was introduced to the market just 15 years agounlike gold, which is used by ancestral peoples for thousands of years.

In that sense, the following graph shows (with orange bars) how Bitcoin market capitalization has grown percentage with respect to gold. As of January 31, 2025, and according to Trading Different, Bitcoin had 10% of market capitalization that the gold held.

The previous image reflects that, although gold continues to dominate as the most market capitalization assets, BTC has been reducing that gap due to its growing adoption and valorization. Despite its differences in stability and volatility, Bitcoin’s trajectory implies that cryptoactive has potential to compete as a strategic value reserve.

Companies such as Microstrategy, the largest miners in Bitcoin and other companies, began for years to forge reserves in BTC, which explains gradual and sustained growth in Bitcoin confidence.

Bitcoin is more volatile, but more profitable

When assessing a strategic reserve in gold or Bitcoin it is inevitable to highlight the Huge volatility difference that the two assets present in their market contributions.

Through the graphic provided by the TrainingView financial analysis platform, gold and red candle line (purple line) historically is perceived.

While Bitcoin shows exponential growth, exceeding gold, the metal maintains stable and moderate growth. This behavior reflects the speculative and higher risk of BTC, whose yields and falls are more abrupt. In contrast, gold acts as a traditional asset of value reserve: less volatility, but less performance.

In such a way, and although gold remains the most market capitalization assets in the world and the most used as a reserve of value for its history and global acceptance, Bitcoin is gaining ground quickly as your replacement.

This thanks to its growing adoption, its nature of scarcity, the high yields that it has offered in the market and the storage and digital exchange facilities that eliminate the risks and costs associated with the physical protection.