The Way People Stored Cash Is Now How They’re Storing Gold and BTC

by
Nick Marinoff
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Everyone is so worried about inflation as of late that we’re starting to resort to the old ways of keeping cash stuck between a mattress, only this time, it’s not cash that has been the object of everyone’s affection. Rather, everyone is looking to stock up on bitcoin and gold as much as they can.

Gold and Bitcoin Are Getting Ahead

Richard Hodges of London says that he’s been preparing for moments like these for many years. He bought his first physical bar of gold in the year 2009 and has been stocking up ever since. He currently stores all the assets he’s purchased over the years in his basement. Like many Americans and citizens of the U.K., he’s relatively critical of stimulus measures, saying that shelling out stimulus money is a great way to potentially manipulate the prices of both cash and other assets.

However, he’s confident that these physical assets can potentially retain their value for many years to come, while cash is always vulnerable to inflation and could potentially fall to unprecedentedly low levels if financial regulators and central banks are not careful.

Describing his gold hoarding tactics, he stated in an interview:

I even stack these little bars like they do in the movies.

For the most part, inflation hasn’t been much of a problem over the past ten years. Despite the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009 and the coronavirus pandemic shaking things up for the majority of average citizens, it seems like fiat currencies in stable nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom have managed to retain their positions on the financial ladder.

Despite these relatively positive circumstances, there are still many people who are trapped in a fearful or negative frame of mind and are preparing for a disaster that has yet to show its face. Global equities have managed to return more than 150 percent to their original investors, many of whom have also enjoyed dividends, and gold has risen by roughly 60 percent over the past decade.

Now, the precious metal is seeing a surge in demand, having recently shot beyond the $2,000 mark temporarily as things got out of hand. At the time of writing, one ounce of gold has fallen to about $1,920. Still, Nikhil Chandra – investment director of real assets at Aviva Investors – explained that people shouldn’t settle down just yet, and warned:

A rate of inflation at three percent is hardly hyperinflation, but three percent inflation per annum can erode your wealth by half in under 25 years. Anyone would be hard-pressed to say that inflation is dead.

Stocking Up Makes People Feel Safe

Michael Novogratz – founder of Galaxy Investment Partners – discussed that during the present, both bitcoin and gold appeal to most people as ways of shedding uncertainty regarding their finances:

Gold, bitcoin – both of them, I think, are protections just against this uncertainty that’s out there.