Peter Thiel is the latest big name from the world of tech and finance to offer commentary on Bitcoin, and he’s optimistic about the future of the cryptocurrency.

However, rather than discuss Bitcoin’s potential uses as a means of exchange, Thiel focused on its effectiveness as a store of value.

According to CNBC, Thiel compared Bitcoin to gold and said that due to the difficulty of the digital mining process, it’s actually harder to mine Bitcoin than it is to mine the precious metal.

“If bitcoin ends up being the cyber equivalent of gold it has a great potential left,” Thiel said.

Thiel was speaking from Saudi Arabia, where he’s attending the Saudi government’s Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.

His comments are interesting in the context of what Bitcoin and other digital currencies actually represent, amid the explosion in popularity of initial coin offerings.

Earlier this week, a research report from Bank of America Merril Lynch (BAML) outlined why Bitcoin may struggle as a payments system.

BAML’s argument was based around cost and speed — that transactions on the Bitcoin network are too slow and expensive to compete with traditional payment processing companies such as Visa and Mastercard.