February 16, 2026
4 More Ways Bitcoin Outshines Gold
Dear Subscriber,
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| By Marija Matic |
Last week, I laid out the practical reasons I believe Bitcoin is better than gold as a safe haven asset.
But despite putting in over 1,000 words, that’s only the surface of my full bullish argument for Bitcoin.
Because I also believe that BTC excels over gold in four additional areas. And I want to cover them today.
Utility in the Real World
Gold preserves wealth well. But spending it in everyday life is cumbersome.
Converting gold into usable currency usually requires selling through a dealer, a broker or a financial institution.
Bitcoin, by contrast, integrates naturally with the digital payments ecosystem.
Today, it is possible to connect a crypto wallet to a debit card and spend funds anywhere cards are accepted. Behind the scenes, payment processors handle conversion, while the user experiences a normal transaction.
This means Bitcoin functions not only as a store of value, but as a liquid and spendable asset in a way that physical gold rarely does.
In a fast-moving world, liquidity and usability matter alongside scarcity.
Not only that, but Bitcoin also has a stronger utility claim thanks to its divisibility and role in the digital economy.
Gold divides physically, though only to a practical limit. Small transactions and digital commerce never fit naturally with precious metals.
But Bitcoin can be divided into one hundred million units per coin and moves seamlessly across digital networks. It integrates directly with modern financial infrastructure, software and online markets.
These characteristics align closely with the structure of the modern global economy, which increasingly operates in real time and across borders.
Verifiability and Trust
Not all gold is created equal.
Indeed, the quality of the gold directly impacts value. Which means you must place your trust in third-party experts to verify authenticity and purity.
That’s on top of the custodians you also have to trust to store your gold. And each step introduces a dependency.
The cherry on top? The lack of transparency built into the system.
Central bank vaults are audited occasionally, but the public ultimately has to trust what they are told.
Bitcoin works very differently.
The entire network is transparent, with the key information visible to everyone.
Total supply is known, transactions are public and balances can be viewed directly on blockchain explorers. These are simple websites where anyone can see how much Bitcoin sits in major wallets, exchanges or even government reserves.
In practice, this means you don’t have to rely on official statements or periodic reports to know what exists or where it is.
Absolute Scarcity
Gold is scarce, true. But its supply expands gradually as mining continues.
New discoveries and improved extraction technologies influence how much enters circulation over time.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has a hard limit to its supply, 21 million coins. Changing that limit would require global consensus among participants — a hurdle so high that the monetary policy has remained effectively immovable.
This setup means that Bitcoin’s annual inflation rate is already lower than that of gold. And it continues to decline with each halving cycle.
Over time, this programmed scarcity will become increasingly pronounced.
Predictability of supply strengthens its credibility.
Neutrality in a Politicized Financial System
Gold historically functioned as neutral settlement money between nations. But its continued dependence on physical delivery and trusted intermediaries poses a notable risk, even if custodians are trustworthy.
Sanctions, trade restrictions, financial surveillance and control have turned payment networks and even reserves into geopolitical tools.
History offers many examples.
- Russia never returned Romanian gold reserves sent there for safekeeping during World War I.
- The Bank of England froze Venezuela’s gold reserves in 2018.
- The United States and Europe immobilized hundreds of billions in Russian foreign currency reserves and securities in 2022.
The global financial infrastructure is becoming increasingly weaponized.
And Bitcoin can stay safely out of the way.
It settles globally without relying on any state or institution. Participation does not depend on nationality, alliances or political alignment.
In a world where financial access can be shaped by geopolitics, neutrality carries growing significance.
Bottom Line: A Changing Definition of Hard Money
Gold’s history gives it enormous credibility when it comes to alternative ways to store your wealth.
That credibility will not disappear. It has preserved wealth across empires, wars and monetary resets.
But it’s also possible — indeed likely — that in the modern era, its challenger has unique advantages that dull gold’s shine.
Bitcoin looks to solve the same problems as gold. But it does so from the perspective of a connected, digitized and politically complex world.
Self-custody, portability, verifiability, liquidity and resistance to sovereign control shape Bitcoin into a form of monetary independence that has never existed at a global scale before.
As the world becomes less predictable, the definition of a safe asset will evolve.
What made gold the default for millennia — durability and scarcity — still matter. But now mobility, accessibility and independence from institutions are becoming equally important.
For a growing number of people, those qualities place Bitcoin in a position that gold once occupied alone …
The asset held in moments when trust in systems begins to erode.
Best,
Marija MatiΔ
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