Is Bitcoin the New Gold?

Gold has always been considered a safe haven asset.

Now Bitcoin is appearing to exhibit gold-like properties. Will Bitcoin replace gold as the new safe haven asset?

Anti Danilevski, CEO of KICKICO, a Russian blockchain platform for initial coin offerings, explains that during financial difficulties, Bitcoin has already been performing in analogous ways to gold -- representing a calm harbor for investors.

"During the last year S&P 500 index was decreased, gold (GLD) increased by 14.4%, whereas Bitcoin increased by 74.9%," Danilevski said. "During the last five years, S&P 500 increased by 68.8%, gold decreased by 26.5%, whilst bitcoin grew by an impressive 24.9%."

Gold has always been considered a safe haven asset.

Now Bitcoin is appearing to exhibit gold-like properties. Will Bitcoin replace gold as the new safe haven asset?

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"During the last year S&P 500 index was decreased, gold (GLD) increased by 14.4%, whereas Bitcoin increased by 74.9%," Danilevski said. "During the last five years, S&P 500 increased by 68.8%, gold decreased by 26.5%, whilst bitcoin grew by an impressive 24.9%."

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Danilevski believes cryptocurrency is not only a good backup plan, but compared to gold, it grows considerably more in its price with a growing market.

Taking into consideration the recent events such as the clash between North Korea and President Trump, we saw gold rise on the back of genuine fear of conflict.

"Despite this latest episode of hair pulling which was regarded as the closest threat of war between North Korea and the U.S. since 1994, this spike in gold, although adequate, wasn't mouthwatering," said James Trescothick, senior global strategist at easyMarkets. "Instead it was another asset that appealed to the masses looking for safety."

Trescothick said in the past there has been the belief that investors should "put 10% of your wealth into gold and hope it goes down." This logic underlines the well-known fact that when gold rises in value it indicates that other assets are performing terribly and fear is gripping the market.

Now Trescothick says it is time to put 10% of your wealth into Bitcoin and hope it doesn't crash. "In the middle of July Bitcoin was trading around $1985 per coin before continuing its rise higher and around the beginning of August it traded at $2789.58 per coin," he said. "And then as hostilities increased between North Korea and the U.S., it skyrocketed. First it broke the $3,000 mark before slicing through the $4,000 level with ease."

We saw gold react in a similar way moving from $1,258.80 an ounce at the beginning of August before moving $31 up as threats from both North Korea and Trump gripped the media. Both reacted in safe haven style, but it was the size of the move and the speed of rise in Bitcoin value that was impressive.