In recent times, interests in cryptocurrencies especially Bitcoin has gained a lot of interest due to its astronomic rise in value (~1300%) since the beginning of this year (2017). As a result, people have had to rethink what money is; a social construct that facilitates the communication of value among ourselves.

You would agree that how we communicate amongst each other has improved significantly due to technology and innovation. For example, emails have now replaced a lot of letters we used to send by post with an enormous amount of time saved. Video and voice calls over social media were non-existent previously but are common today. Communication has greatly improved globally.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies fill this high-speed communication gap with anything of value in a decentralized manner. The technology behind this is the Blockchain which for the first time in history provides a historical record of truth and platform of trust that allows communication of value over a decentralized network. That is no central control or point of weakness or failure because the ledger is completely decentralized and available to anyone anywhere in the world. It is for the first time the democratization of money.

The technology behind Bitcoin that is the Blockchain can be extremely useful in our industry for the purpose of transfer of ownership of mineral rights from one party to the other. Records on the blockchain are immutable and can never be refuted. Information can be verified by all parties involved and would therefore settle any disputes involving boundaries, ownership of any sort and any agreements made with any party undisputed. This means no conflicts an enormous amount of time saved for business to carry on.

Gold is used for jewelry, computer components and has been a store of value or hedge against economic shocks for centuries, this historical reliability makes it one of the most valued asset today. The Bitcoin network has embedded protocols that allow the issuance of currency based on mathematics (cryptography) rather than politics. This feature coupled with it’s transparent ledger (Blockchain) has had some referred to it as “digital gold”. A lot of people have started to turn towards Bitcoin as well as Countries with inflationary and other monetary issues to hedge against their depreciating currency for example Zimbabwe.

If Bitcoin can prove its value, gold may have a real competitor for the safe-haven asset of choice.