Kristoffer Inton, an analyst from Morningstar Equity Research, believes that at least in the near future, it is not a substitute for gold. And he proposed five criteria for judging. Obviously, the standard does not include volatility. In the past year, the Bitcoin price

So what are the main points of the standard? Liquidity, practical functions, scarce supply, determined future needs and stability. Inton believes that:

Gold perfectly satisfies these needs, but Bitcoin barely satisfies two of them.

First, liquidity. Investment instruments need to be traded on a regular basis, but Bitcoin is very illiquid, and investors in cryptocurrency tend to hoard Bitcoin because they believe that Bitcoin will appreciate. ‘Currently, Bitcoin trading volume per day accounts for about 0.5% of existing Bitcoin,’ Inton said. ‘And gold’s trading volume is more than five times larger than Bitcoin, and nearly 3% of existing gold is traded regularly.’

Second, in addition to being widely regarded as a kind of value savings, gold actually has a functional use — from the application of computer boards to jewelry and dental appliances, all have gold. But the only purpose of Bitcoin is to store it as money and value, and now it is rarely accepted in actual commercial trading (rather than speculative trading).

Third, Bitcoin does supply scarcity, which is a necessary part of maintaining value. It will only generate up to 21 million Bitcoins, which is written into the code from the first day it is generated.

Fourth, is there a certain demand for Bitcoin currency in the future? This is still a very large unknown. In the period of major technological and political turmoil, digital currency has existed for less than a decade; even if cryptocurrency is popular in the mainstream, there is no guarantee that Bitcoin will become one of the ultimate winners. In contrast, the value of gold has been widely accepted for more than 5,000 years, and for investors, it is a very safe choice and will not

Finally, permanent, this is a question about whether the investment resources themselves will decay over time. Gold is a precious metal that does not rust; Bitcoin does not rot or ruin. (However, if people stop using Bitcoin extensively, the quality of the Bitcoin network will decrease and eventually disappear completely. But by contrast, even if gold is no longer used as an investment tool tomorrow, it will continue to exist.)