For thousands of years, gold operates as the ultimate store of value and only in the previous century its glory started fading.
Gold is still powerful but lost a lot of its appeal after the third industrial revolution that set the basis for a technological process humankind never witnessed before. The wealth of nations has risen significantly, however, the rapid increase of population was also a factor that increased poverty.
Looking back, everything was simpler before.
Changes had been dramatic in societies with people flocking to big cities and abandoning the countryside looking for a better life in an organized city.
Exploration and opportunity are in the human DNA, and an opportunity as the one explained in this post, to strike a mountain of gold, doesn't repeat often in history.
A Mountain of Gold
A mountain of gold discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo was in the news two months ago.
It caught my attention for several reasons, but what was very convincing was this picture from the mountain that circulated the news.
(source)
This person looks like someone that could be in charge of the mining operations, holding a dish full of golden pieces extracted from rocks inside this mine.
This picture, is not a real one but modified. In reality, this miner is just holding a plate full of mud.
We make assumptions based on what we see as true. We tend to believe what we see is real, yet there are many illusions, in images as well as in narratives. The picture is not real and this is obvious, but the vast supply of gold coming out of Congo is real.
Villagers of Luhihi, in the region of South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are using shoves and any tools at their disposal to unearth gold from the soil. This is like a lottery ticket for these villagers. Gold mining comes with difficult work conditions but is very lucrative especially with the price of gold having reached an all-time high in 2020.
Africa is a continent that was exploited by imperialism for centuries and it still has vast mineral resources. With the advancement of technology and new tools and developments, the gold supply is increasing rapidly. These villagers don't even need high-tech gadgets to trace gold in their mountains, since gold in Congo is abundant.
In case you want to test your luck and become a modern gold digger here is the location, on the Eastern part of Congo, right next to Rwanda.
According to Reuters, the gold rush was put to a halt by the Congolese authorities in order to identify and register every miner and not allow mining under the conditions we see in the video above.
Also, probably to allocate mining activities to those it favors.
Gold Supply misrepresented
Most of the gold coming out of the Congo mines is unaccounted for. Gold supply is currently misrepresented. The market knows it and those that promote gold heavily also know it.
Production is not reported and smuggling is thriving. The Emirates is the biggest buyer of African gold and while Congo produces most of it, it is still not even among the top-10 gold suppliers for the UAE (Reuters)
Congo has vast resources and gold is flowing out of the country massively. Smuggling and unregistered exportations are common practice in a country where political upheaval and corruption seems to be at very high levels.
Possibly it works for everyone well. For politicians, for smugglers, for the supply chain, the buyers at UAE and China (officially the top importing nation for minerals coming from Congo), and for everyone in the industry.
Gold and BTC in trouble
There is a lot of concern about the total supply of gold and how much is being mined each year and smuggled without official reporting.
Its price was again on the rise and gold as an asset has a very limited use case. It is used in the jewelry field, but beyond that, its features are not required anywhere else as there are cheaper and better minerals.
Gold has a few major drawbacks right now.
It is becoming less significant
Supply could be far from what is reported
It is not producing anything
Gold and BTC are both in trouble. Bitcoin supply is currently 21 million, however, there had been thoughts and concerns on this hard-cap changing. If miners do not profit, then they will stop their mining operations and create big problems for the network. For the time being this is a concern not discussed a lot, however, it seems that BTC is trying to scale on the fees side, increasing and giving better profit to miners this way. Something that is unsustainable and will not last for very long, as high fees will be the end of BTC.
Some final thoughts
We are at the beginning of the 4th industrial revolution. The one that will eventually send us into the stars. It could take a hundred years, but humanity will eventually at least create a sustainable moon base this time. Gold loses its significance since technology and development create and hold more value. And gold is not part of this.
Gold was part of all the previous millenniums of statism, endless wars, and all the troubles of our race.
We have passed beyond that state as a race, we see more value now in ideas, research, and development. Gold is nonprogressive, and BTC matches this description as well since BTC's development has stalled and is now an outdated piece of code with a very limited use case.
As we move to the new age of technological progress, research and development are what drives humankind. Cryptocurrencies may suffer for the time being, but they will not become digital gold. It is worthless to consider that in the future anything will represent a "store of value" without being productive or having a strong use case.
Crypto will become modern money and will be valued according to the usage of the networks. This is why I am in Bitcoin Cash because I see a network that has the potential to represent digital cash, being decentralized, fast and cheap to use, and a network that keeps developing, finding new opportunities, and not remaining static.
Lead Image from Unsplash
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Think good gifted them gold of course!gold has its limited use in jewalry and BTC is in wallet of limited people