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White House Says Gold Reserves May Be Used to Purchase Bitcoin (finance.yahoo.com)

submitted 6 days ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/nottheonion@lemmy.ml

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A senior White House official has hinted at the possibility of the U.S. utilizing its gold reserves to acquire more Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).

"If we actually realize the gains on the U.S. gold holdings, that would be a budget-neutral way to acquire more bitcoin," Hines said adding that there's been "countless ideas" and the “best ideas" will be enacted by President Donald Trump.

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[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 39 points 6 days ago (6 children)

This is genuinely the Dumbest idea Trump's white house has come up with yet. Trading actual money for made up internet points.

[–] Sims@lemmy.ml 0 points 6 days ago (5 children)

I get your point, but normal money is just as fake a value as bitcrap..

[–] oxysis@lemm.ee 33 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I mean gold has actual value in jewelry, decorative, in electronics and probably other things that I can’t remember off of the top of my head. But it is actually valuable by itself so it’s stupid to swap it for something that fluctuates as heavy as bitshit

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Gold's industrial value is a tiny percentage of it's market value. Like fiat currency and Bitcoin, the value is that other people think it's valuable.

Gold's price is more stable because it has more money invested in it so larger percentage swings are way less likely. Just like how penny stocks can see trading says where the value swings 40-50%, while Apple only moves 1-2%.

I don't think trading gold for Bitcoin is a good idea, but gold's value is just as artificial as Bitcoin's and the value of both stems from the same source: speculation.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 days ago

The price of gold in USD was until recently fairly stable because of price manipulation.

The politics of gold: Economist Michael Hudson explains why gold’s price is rising so much

Even though more and more people may be buying gold, the United States and England are making money by essentially engaging in this market manipulation as a source of revenue.

That is one of the factors that was holding down [the price of gold].

Well, central banks also have, in fact, been selling gold short for many decades now. And they’ve been making money by it.

As I said, to buy this option, to buy gold at a fairly low price when you think, “Well, certainly the market is going to go up for gold; the price must be going up for gold, because everybody is buying it. I’m going to buy this option”.

And it just didn’t work. A lot of people, pessimists, tried to do this, and they were overwhelmed by the central banks’ selling.

Most options are not exercised, because central banks keep selling forward again, and again, and again. That is what held down the price of gold for many decades. It kept the price from rising, because future buyers can always buy the other end of a short sale, at a lower price.

The supply and demand wasn’t just in the private market; it wasn’t just among central banks; it was a manipulated market.

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