The Recent Gold Space Rock Discovery is Great News for Bitcoin

The comparisons between Bitcoin and gold seem to never stop. Multiple industry insiders have compared the characteristics of the two, and we have seen people with varying opinions on which of them is the better investment. 

However, things could possibly take a different turn, as NASA seems to be on the cusp of one of the most significant discoveries in the history of the modern world. 

Last Thursday, the Sun reported that NASA has discovered an asteroid containing enough gold to make every single human being a billionaire at the asset’s current price level. According to the report, the asteroid- named Psyche 16- contains gold, as well as significant amounts of Nickel, Platinum, Palladium, and Iron. 

All in all, the total mineral deposit of the asteroid measures up to £8,000 quadrillion. Bringing this asteroid- whether as a whole or in part- to the Earth will immediately and indefinitely change the global economy. Yet another reason to compare it to Bitcoin. The comparisons between gold and Bitcoin are quite extensive. They have some similarities, but their differences are far more interesting and have been the root cause of the comparisons as well.

However, one of the most outstanding differences between both assets is the availability. Its entry into Earth might seem like eons away, but if mining companies- or, say, Elon Musk’s SpaceX- are able to tap into this rock, it could potentially offset the gold supply and render the material virtually worthless. 

This event would cause Bitcoin to skyrocket in value, further highlighting the value of Bitcoin’s inherent scarcity as opposed to the perceived scarcity that gold has.

The true value of any asset is simply what others are willing to pay for it. As things stand, gold trading is around $1,400 per ounce, while Bitcoin holds a token value of about $11,100. Still, the differences in “asset value” can’t be further apart. 

Bitcoin is digital, seamless, and can be sent anywhere in the world. However, most importantly, it is hard-wired so that its supply can’t increase past a certain point. Once the 21 million Bitcoins available have been mined, you can’t go anywhere to get more. You can only buy cryptocurrency or perform trades on cryptocurrency exchanges and other trading platforms to earn your tokens. 

As soon as many people get to know that the gold they hold and value isn’t as scarce as it used to be, and as soon as capitalists begin to fund expeditions into space to get a piece of that gold rock for themselves, there is no doubt that this sudden realization will trigger a massive and quick gold sell-off. In contrast, it would only mean an uptick in the price of Bitcoin, an asset whose source code already has the scarcity factor built into it. 

It might take many years for this gold rock to be tapped, (per the Sun’s report, 2022 at the earliest), but this could just be the catalyst for a dramatic shift in the global asset market that causes Bitcoin to finally become the global currency. It’s becoming more obvious that gold’s time is limited. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is here to stay.