A war has been raging between two cliques in the investment community — the Bitcoin bulls and the gold bugs.

Over the past few years, it has become a popular practice for cryptocurrency proponents to equate or liken Bitcoin to gold, citing the asset’s non-sovereign, decentralized, fungible, borderless, international, and scarce nature.

Gold bugs have begged to differ. Libertarian Peter Schiff, notably, has proclaimed that unlike gold, BTC has no inherent value, and is thus a massive game of greater fool theory.

Ben Askren, a prominent UFC fighter that has stumbled across the world of cryptocurrencies, recently tried to set the record straight.

Bitcoin vs. Gold, A Poll

In a poll posed to his followers and the rest of the Twitter world on Friday, Askren asked if “someone gives you $10,000 that you can’t touch for 10 years, would you rather have the gift in gold, Bitcoin, or U.S. Treasury bonds?”

The results were relatively surprising.

The poll, which was responded to by over 64,185 people on Twitter, found that a majority would want to put the $10,000 cash gift into BTC, 41% would want to hold gold, and a measly 9% felt it relatively safe to invest in U.S. Treasury bonds.

Someone gives you a $10,000 that you can’t touch for 10 years, would you rather have the 10k gift in — Funky Ben (@Benaskren) September 27, 2019

While 41% to 50% for gold and Bitcoin, respectively, isn’t a bad showing for both sides, one side came out on top this time around. This side is BTC.

Don’t Hate Gold Bugs

Although this poll is relatively innocuous, it brings up the idea that Bitcoiners and gold bugs have been at odds for years, with the debate materializing in an anti-gold campaign from Grayscale and multiple online and in-person spats. But are these tensions really conducive to the success of hard money?

According to a growing number of members in the Bitcoin community, likely not.

Gabor Gurbacs, one of the masterminds behind the Bitcoin ETF proposal from VanEck Partners, posted the tweet below in August, pitting Bitcoin and gold as clear equals.

Max Keiser, a contributor to RT and a prominent investor in the cryptocurrency market, has echoed this line, repeating on the Keiser Report for years that investing in Bitcoin, gold, and silver is all a way to propagate hard money.

And most recently, Samson Mow of Blockstream supported gold, writing that the precious metal helps him explain “Bitcoin to newcomers” and that “there’s too much hating on gold these days”.

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