Gold, not bitcoin, is the real alternative to fiat currency: hedge fund manager

It has now become a year-old question: is gold a better safe haven investment than bitcoin?

Well, the answer really depends on who you ask, especially among the libertarian community. Avid goldbugs will make the case for the yellow metal, while libertarian bitcoiners will say the cryptocurrency is a far better choice than precious metals because it’s a tool against the establishment.

For one well-respected and successful finance expert, investors should just forget about bitcoin altogether and view gold for what it really is: a real alternative currency.

In a letter to investors, Paul Singer, a hedge fund manager for the $23 billion Elliott Management, admitted that he is surprised that the value of bitcoin has risen dramatically, but still believes precious metals, particularly gold, are the true alternatives to fiat currency.

“There is no more reason to believe that bitcoin will stand the test of time than that governments will protect the value of government-created money, although bitcoin is newer and we always look at babies with hope,” wrote Singer, according to CNBC. “If you want an alternative currency, check out gold. It has stood the test of thousands of years as a store of value and medium of exchange.”

Singer went onto add that gold is not a computer entry and can be purchased at a reasonable price. He then noted that bitcoiners represent understandable frustrations with the current government, such anti-big-government and pro-freedom, but it’s unclear as to how bitcoin will survive in the future.

“At least with gold you have to work really hard to dig the stuff up.”

In a separate section of his letter to investors, Singer presented the bullish case for gold. Essentially, he made the point that gold is “a unique investment asset” and that it has remained the only genuine money for thousands of years all across the globe.

“With its durability, finite and difficult-to-extract supply and natural allure, it is a store of value that should be particularly attractive at a time when monetary debasement is the major policy practiced by most developed countries to keep their economies afloat,” wrote Singer.

In the end, Singer feels gold will soon inch upwards because of low growth and high inflation.

“If the global economy recovers strongly without a significant uptick in inflation, then gold might continue to be a neglected asset class,” Singer explained. “But low growth and high inflation are typical hallmarks of structurally unsound economies experiencing monetary debasement, so perhaps that phase is next, or soon to appear.

“We shall see.”

This week, Economic Collapse News reported that former Texas Republican Congressman and three-time presidential candidate Ron Paul invests in gold from a long-term prospective and concludes that gold will always shoot up when the Federal Reserve prints money.

“I don’t see gold so much in short-term because I see it in over a 100-year period,” said Paul. “Long-term, it will always go up so long as we have a [Federal Reserve] printing money. But, on the short-term, the traders have a lot to say about this. A correction like we just had last year – one year out of 13 – that’s not a big correction. That doesn’t destroy a so-called bull market.”

At the time of this writing, gold is trading at around $1,240, while silver remains below the $20 mark.