Bitcoin is often described as “digital gold.” While this is an oversimplification, it can be a helpful way of understanding some of bitcoin’s most critical properties — the things that “give bitcoin value.”[1]
One of bitcoin’s preeminent use cases is in its role as a store of value, a status that gold has long embodied. Though the price is volatile, many Bitcoiners who believe in its long-term value to an increasingly decentralized society see it as a long-term investment, and citizens of countries whose economies are distressed regularly turn[2] to bitcoin[3] as a safe haven asset.
Bitcoin also derives much of its perceived value from the fact that its supply is strictly capped, in a similar way to natural and finite resources like gold. Then there is bitcoin mining which — while just a metaphorical term for adding transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain in exchange for a bitcoin reward — can serve as another parallel between bitcoin and precious metal.
Even though bitcoin is far from just a digital version of gold, these connections persist in the minds of new adopters and hardcore Bitcoiners alike. It has spurred a variety of initiatives, offerings and services from digital asset managers — each of which is its own interpretation of the analogy that bitcoin is digital gold.
The Drop Gold Campaign: Bitcoin as the Digital Replacement for Gold
In May 2019, digital currency investing firm Grayscale Investments launched[4] an ad initiative known as the “Drop Gold” campaign.
As the name implies, the campaign is meant to encourage potential investors to withdraw or divest their gold investments in favor of investing in cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency-based products, such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust[5].
“The point of #DropGold is
