There's always been this group of absolute shits that have believed that gold is the one true currency and that investing in a yellow rock is the only true investment (rather than, I dunno, investing in creating value.)

A big part of this belief is an individualist, doomsday prepper streak that has them believing that society is a house of cards and, after it collapses, they will inherit everything because they have yellow rock currency.

And so the price of gold has always traditionally gone way up during times of uncertainty. And the price of gold did go up a bit when the pandemic hit.

But then bitcoin started to climb instead.

Part of me is a little delighted that the shits who bought a bunch of gold to prepare for the eventual apocalypse (rather than, I dunno, working to prevent it) got what they have traditionally gotten from their investments in heavy metals (nothing.)

But another part of me is rolling his eyes all the way around because, for many, Bitcoin is the new yellow rock. It has value because it has value because it has value. Not because it creates anything or is useful, just because it has a set, limited supply.

Plus, you can move it around without the government knowing. You can hide it. You can protect it. For many, it's the same shitty individualist, libertarian, fear-based motivation but with a tool that's just way more powerful than extremely heavy rocks.

Though, remarkably, mining gold harms the environment, but so does mining Bitcoin, which is just fucking infuriating. Bitcoin mining has the carbon footprint of New Zealand. No reason to think that won't keep climbing, at least until we get a better energy mix.

The annoying part is...god damnit many of these people believe the same stories and have the same fears, so they're probably right that it's going to work. It'll be a permanent new way to store (and, to a lesser extent, transfer) value.

Anyway, *sigh* a diversified portfolio probably includes some crypto.