It's a case of out with the new, and in with the old as London-based bitcoin exchange Netagio allows you trade bitcoin for real gold, which it stores in a secure vault in the Swiss mountains.

Netagio, which opened in December 2013, has announced that it will now offer customers the chance to trade in real gold bars along with sterling, US dollars and euro.

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Bitcoin is seen by some as a realistic alternative to gold in terms of long-term investment, and was even called Gold 2.0 by the Winklevoss Twins who are made major investments in the cryptocurrency.

Netagio, which stores most of its customers bitcoins in offline 'cold' wallets, says the gold its customers buy will be just as secure.

Customers who turn bitcoins into physical 100g gold bars are assured that those bars will be insured and stored in a maximum-security vault in "one of the world's most secure storage facilities in the mountains of Switzerland."

Armed guards

This vault will be protected by armed guards and embedded hundreds of metres within the rock, with Netagio confidently saying "the gold is safe from all known civilian and military risks."

Customers who want to move from the old to the new can also use Netagio to convert their gold bars into bitcoin, though they will need to deliver 100g gold bards to the exchange before their account is credited with the equivalent in bitcoin.

Simon Hamblin, managing director at Netagio said:

"Gold is one of the world's oldest currencies and now our customers can trade it for one of the newest - bitcoins. We're offering customers the chance to exchange bitcoins for gold and vice versa, with the reassurance that Netagio has incredibly safe, state-of-the-art storage solutions for both."

As well as gold, Netagio customers can now also trade bitcoins for three national currencies - British pounds, euro or US dollars.