Petr Dvoryankin, founder of CryptoLife — an international network of professional investors working with digital assets – told Sputnik that he doesn’t consider gold as a means of payment of the 21st century (unlike, for example, 19th century), arguing that it is rather an attractive investment asset like real estate or artwork.
"In any case, the gold price is not as volatile [as cryptocurrency prices] so it is more suitable as a store of value. In terms of an investment however, it [gold] is a less risky but also a less lucrative instrument than cryptocurrencies," Dvoryankin said.
Russian marketing analyst Roman Tkachuk added that at this point it is hard to predict whether cryptocurrencies will be used in the future as a means of payment or as assets.
"Cryptocurrencies compete with the US dollar and euro as a means of payment. As an asset, a store of value, cryptocurrencies may indeed rival gold. On the other hand, they won’t be able to replace gold completely – gold is a tried and tested asset that acts as a store of value for centuries so investors will stick to it. I believe that cryptocurrency will occupy a certain niche rather than replace gold," Tkachuk said, pointing out that last year there were more purchasing requests for bitcoin than for gold.
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Earlier in January Alexander Borodich, creator of the Universa blockchain platform, said during his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos told Sputnik that "people believe that bitcoin may actually become the digital equivalent of gold."
The views and opinions expressed by Petr Dvoryankin and Roman Tkachuk are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.