According to statistics, the global gold market currently stands at about $10 trillion. And the current bitcoin market size, that is, the market capitalization, reaches $1.2 trillion, and the gold market holds more than eight times the value of bitcoin. Coinbase’s market capitalization, which was listed on the NASDAQ on the 15th of last month (Korean time), exceeded 90 trillion won in an instant, and the so-called cryptocurrency heyday is moving ahead. From these changes, we can guess the common form of digital currency for humanity in the future and its use.
Since ancient times, humans have long used gold, silver, and copper coins through shell currency and stone currency. After that, banknotes are naturally born, and gyoza (交子) used by Chinese merchants, which can be said to be the first banknote of mankind around the 10th century, appears.
The history of money in humanity is a supporting part of the desperate struggle for gold. Since ancient times, gold has been the best means of exchange for trade with neighboring countries, and humanity has basically only accepted gold or gold coins and gold standard currency in cross-border trade until the US President Nixon gave up the gold exchange on August 15, 1971. .
From the 14th to the 16th century, when Columbus discovers a new continent in history, Spain, Britain, and France, in the background of advancing to the South American continent and the East, melts humanity’s dream of searching for the golden land of El Dorado have. And humanity has not stopped constantly struggling for gold for thousands of years now, including World Wars 1 and 2, panic crisis and economic crisis that emerged when bored, and the IMF of 1997 as well as other economies represented by gold. The purpose was to create national wealth through exploitation.
In this way, gold has established itself as the most important commodity in the history of mankind and has been loved by mankind for a long time. However, this one-sided serenade on gold is now expected to change direction and move to a cryptocurrency represented by bitcoin.
The reason is simple. This is because human life has become digital. We live a life connected in real time with all countries and all societies around the world through online 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in the heyday of the Internet. In this online world, a world that crosses the virtual and real worlds represented by metaverse and NFT. Our lives are already wandering in the digital world as it is a common practice to buy, sell, and exchange gifts with various points, including cryptocurrency as well as credit cards.
In addition, the cashless era of cashless is already changing the lives of mankind faster with Corona 19, and the cryptocurrency represented by bitcoin quickly enters traditional financial institutions, opening humanity’s eyes to the value of digital assets at an alarming rate. making.
Gold has a permanent value, but its utility value is rapidly disappearing in the digitalized world because it cannot escape the inconvenience of storing, moving, and using. Moreover, as can be seen from the case of the ancient Roman Empire, gold coins have long since lost their value as money, even if you do not recall Gresham’s law that “deterioration builds positive paintings”. Above all, gold coins cannot be split into small pieces, so now they can only be seen as having the function of storing values.
On the other hand, bitcoin can be easily split and merged at any time, and it will be equipped with easy storage, transfer, and payment functions, so the value of bitcoin is expected to exceed the value of gold as time passes. However, the adoption of the institutional rights of powerful countries such as the United States, as well as more sophisticated technological developments that enable Bitcoin to have value as a currency, will have to follow. As such, when Bitcoin goes beyond the means of storing value and adds its function as a currency, I wonder if humanity’s attachment and expectations for gold can no longer be lowered. But when will the size of the Bitcoin market surpass the gold market?
