Let me count the ways Bitcoin is FAR superior to wrapping bullion on ERC-20 tokens: Bitcoin will ALWAYS remain the stronger “digital-gold”, especially against gold that has been tokenized on Ethereum because only Bitcoin removes all layers of fiduciary trust, supply uncertainty, and settlement dependency that inevitably re-enter the system once physical bullion is wrapped into an ERC-20 token! Custody vs. Consensus Tokenized-gold projects (e.g., XAUT, PAXG) still rely on an off-chain vault, audits, and a corporate issuer; holders must trust that the metal is really there and never rehypothecated.​ Bitcoin’s 21 million-unit cap, issuance schedule, and ownership are enforced by full nodes, math and decentralized software, not corruptible, fallible human custodians.​ Settlement Finality A BTC transfer is native‐layer final once blocks confirm—no intermediary can freeze or claw it back.​ Tokenized gold inherits Ethereum’s fee market and censorship exposure plus the issuer’s redemption gate; the token can move on-chain, but final title to metal is still off-chain and revocable.​ Supply Elasticity (cc @jackmallers credit here) Gold’s above-ground stock grows whenever price rises because new mining is economically viable when price goes up!—so its inflation is elastic, whereas Bitcoin’s is algorithmically fixed and already under 1% per year.​ A ETH 'gold token' merely mirrors that elastic gold supply; it cannot create digital scarcity as a result. There is simply no Proof of Work tying Gold's work to token value. Regulatory & Counter-party Risk If the vault operator, insurer, or regulator intervenes, tokenized gold can be frozen or invalidated—even while the token circulates on-chain.​ Bitcoin has no issuer to subpoena; seizure requires convincing a global network of miners and node operators—a radically higher bar. Liquidity & Market Depth All tokenized-gold assets combined (so far) are ≈ $3 B—two orders of magnitude smaller than Bitcoin’s ~$2 T market cap and 24-hour spot depth.​ Thin liquidity amplifies slippage and counter-party spreads during stress events, undermining safe-haven utility. Imagine how bad this would get with ETH gas spikes. Performance Asymmetry Over the last decade Bitcoin has compounded at ≈ 60% annually versus gold’s ≈ 2%; the token wrapper cannot erase that structural return gap because it is still tethered to the slow-moving spot gold market.​ Technology Stack Risk (DUH, it's not BITCOIN) Tokenized gold inherits every smart-contract bug, bridge exploit, or consensus-change risk of Ethereum PoS.​ It would simply be retarded to throw gold tokens on top of the most non-performant, insecure, high-gas, schizophrenic dinosaur blockchain. If you were going to try to tokenize Gold meaningfully, at least do it on Solana or SUI, so that it would have a chance at the outset. Bitcoin’s simpler, battle-tested base layer avoids those additional attack surfaces. This is why it's considered pristine collateral. Bottom line: wrapping bullion in an ERC-20 delivers programmability, but it cannot eliminate vault trust, elastic supply, or issuer risk; Bitcoin’s trust-minimized, censorship-resistant settlement and hard-capped scarcity still make it the superior long-term digital store of value. This is true IRRESPECTIVE of how balls-deep @fundstrat is in his eth gambit rn.
BitMine’s Tom Lee just asked a trillion dollar question. If gold itself becomes tokenized on Ethereum, will Bitcoin still be attractive as digital gold? Tokenized gold moves faster, earns yield, lives inside DeFi, and becomes programmable collateral. $ETH $BMNR $BTC
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