Just ten years ago, this would have sounded like a joke.
Gold - a millennium of history.
Bitcoin - an experiment by cryptographers from internet forums.
And now the dry statistics:
According to research by The Nakamoto Project and Gold IRA Guide, approximately 50 million Americans own Bitcoin.
In gold - about 37 million.
The difference - 13 million people.
In other words, today in the USA, Bitcoin is owned by about 35% more people than gold.
Ten years ago, such a comparison simply made no sense.
Bitcoin was a niche asset for a small community of enthusiasts.
But only 17 years have passed - and the digital asset is already outpacing the oldest protective asset of humanity in terms of the number of owners.
🔥This is quite a loud signal
Because most theoretical discussions about whether Bitcoin can become a full-fledged financial asset are actually no longer decided by academia.
They are decided by users.
But there is one important detail here that is easy to overlook.
The number of owners is not the same as the amount of capital.
Among gold owners, there are central banks, large funds, and very wealthy families.
Therefore, the average position of a gold owner is likely to be significantly higher than that of the average Bitcoin owner.
Moreover, any number of coins is taken into account in Bitcoin statistics.
Even if it's a purchase of $50.
That is, one investor out of 100 $BTC and a person with a small share of a coin formally fall into the same category.
And that is why this chart looks a bit misleading.
Bitcoin is already winning the battle for the number of people.
But gold is still holding the battle for capital scale.
And here another interesting nuance comes into play.
In recent months, the profile of precious metal owners is also beginning to change.
The reason is simple.
A new class of assets has emerged - tokenized gold and silver.
Instruments like $PAXG or $XAU allow purchasing a share of physical gold as easily as cryptocurrency.
Without safes.
Without bank vaults.
Without large minimum checks.
In fact, precious metals are beginning to undergo the same transformation that Bitcoin experienced a few years ago.
They are becoming available to the mass investor.
And here arises a small paradox.
For many years, Bitcoin has been called 'digital gold'.
And now a strange thing is happening.
It is the crypto infrastructure that begins to help real gold find new owners.
The technology that was once considered a competitor to gold is gradually becoming its new distribution channel.
The financial world sometimes loves such ironic twists.
If you are interested in observing how the crypto market is slowly changing the rules of the game in finance - subscribe to my profile @MoonMan567 .
Here we sometimes look at familiar numbers from a slightly different angle.
