One Bitcoin Buys 0.6 kg of Gold

Bitcoin (BTC) supporters continue to mock gold bugs as the precious metal’s 10-year returns negatively. According to new data, the XAU/USD traded 3.7 per cent lower on Tuesday than it did on the same day in 2011.

It’s been a bad week for gold and its investors, with a sharp drop on Monday compounding losses that have marked much of 2021. Starting the year at $1,941, XAU/USD was down to $1,729 at the time of writing, representing a 10.9 per cent year-to-date loss.

Previously, gold’s longer-term performance had saved it from oblivion; however, even a 10-year-old is a risky investment this month. On August 1, 2011, the precious metal was trading at $1,830, a 5.8 per cent increase.

Gold looks even weaker when priced in BTC, where it is currently trading at 0.038 BTC per ounce as of Tuesday. Its all-time lows of 0.02746 BTC occurred in mid-April, as BTC/USD reached current all-time highs of $64,500.

Not digital gold

Unsurprisingly, members of the gold industry, including Schiff Gold CEO Peter Schiff, were among the few voices publicly championing the precious metal. The infamous Bitcoin sceptic, blaming gold’s performance on macro market factors, maintained that Bitcoin could never match it despite its success. He continued that Bitcoin is rising as gold falls do not imply replacing gold as an inflation hedge. The latter, on the other hand, recently stated that he still prefers gold to Bitcoin.

Ethereum supply flips

Ethereum’s London upgrade last week has already been seen in action on the blockchain, with nearly 800 “deflationary blocks” generated.

As of 22:00 UTC, ETH Burn Bot recorded 545 Ether (ETH) burned in one hour. With Ethereum issuance reported at 532 ETH per hour, the asset experienced a 13 ETH deflationary period.

A more extensive deflationary burn was detected a few hours later by ETH Burn Bot, with 945 tokens burned within the hour. As a result, there was a temporary negative issuance of -417 ETH. That calculated as a -3.12% annualized deflation rate.

However, the news for Ethereum users isn’t all good, as gas prices have risen once more. The average transaction price has increased to $20 from a low of around $4 in late July. According to Etherscan’s gas tracker, a token swap on Uniswap can cost up to $28.60.