Bitcoin reserve narrative going strong
As we trudge toward a Trump presidency and the impending resignation of the arch nemesis Gensler, The Department of the Treasury issued a report on the trending growth of "digital assets". Never a dull moment during this bull run, and this is the news of the day it seems.
Primary use case for Bitcoin seems to be a store of value...
So now the government is parroting the same message as Larry Fink and other less-informed Bitcoiners. That's interesting. Of course Bitcoin is not a store-of-value at all. This is not a term used to describe other investments like real estate or the stock market; it's specifically a term used to explain gold in most cases. The "digital gold" or "Gold 2.0" narrative is a very reductive one that should only be used to describe the asset to newbies who don't know any better, and maybe not even then because it very much confuses the issue; becoming difficult to unlearn later.
Other confusing terms that are not direct translations:
The name Bitcoin itself misrepresents the truth right off the bat. This is something I learned quickly in my journey watching Andreas Antonopoulos videos in 2018.
Bitcoin is neither a bit nor a coin; it is a simple ledger enforced by a network of trusted redundancy. In this regard Bitcoin is more like a TrustNet.
A wallet isn't a wallet. It does not store "coins". The coins that people think a wallet is storing is available anywhere that has Internet access and anyone can view on a blockchain explorer. In this regard a wallet is more like a Keychain. (Like Hive Keychain)
Mining isn't mining. It's more like a lottery whose currency is energy.
Accounts are not accounts. Bitcoin uses the very unique UTXO model in which every single spend is recorded and secured by individual keys. There are no partial spends and every UTXO that gets spent is completely destroyed while creating new UTXOs.
The goal of a Bitcoin ATM is the same as a regular ATM in that the entire design is tailored to get users in or out of the system as quickly as possible. This is a very inappropriate strategy for a technology that people barely understand and can end in losing all funds due to user error.
The words we use to describe blockchain are extremely flawed.
This makes sense because there is absolutely nothing to compare it to. This inevitably leads to comparing it to things that are incorrect in a feeble attempt to understand the new paradigm. The Gold 2.0 narrative is one that feels old as time, but it falls flat on it's face when actually dissected.
For starters calling Bitcoin a "store-of-value" when it has higher volatility and gains than every stock is just baffling on a couple different levels. Bitcoin is not storing value at all. 1 ounce of gold could buy you a really nice suit 100 years ago and it still can today. THAT'S a store of value. Meanwhile 1 Bitcoin ten years ago could maybe pay someone's rent, and a decade later it can now buy someone's house. That's not storing value that's insane exponential growth on a scale we have a hard time even grasping.
To top it all off calling Bitcoin "Digital Gold" or "Gold 2.0" very heavily implies that Bitcoin and gold are in a huge competition, with Bitcoin being the unlikely underdog that's going to knockout the champ. This is also 100% unequivocally false. Bitcoin and Gold are complimentary. There is no vampire attack going on here. Gold's market cap is not going to get sucked into Bitcoin. It's not happening.
Bitcoin (and blockchain in general) is all about robust redundancy, low time preference, at the sacrifice of efficiency. Gold is the one thing that Bitcoin isn't: physical in nature and unreliant on the Internet. Bitcoin and Gold are like best friends while everyone around them is trying to gaslight them into thinking they are enemies.
If anything Bitcoin can most certainly kill the digital gold market. As in gold derivatives and ETFs. Seeing as these paper markets have been accused of manipulating gold since inception it's impossible to say if this would cause gold's spot price to go up or down. What I do assume is that one day in the next decade or two the peg between the derivative and the physical product will be completely shattered and expose the scam for what it is.
Conclusion
The establishment is no longer fighting Bitcoin. Institutional adoption is blasting through the roof, and the finale is yet to come. 2025 will be known as the year that Big Tech companies like Apple and Microsoft aped in like degenerates while MicroStrategy blows them out of the water with their vampire attack monopoly on the index funds, bond market, and fractional reserve banking.
Go back and take another look at the Treasury infographic. They are literally calling themselves the "legacy financial market". Legacy: as in old, outdated, and in need of an upgrade.