Bullion vs Bitcoin: 'Gold is starting to prevail'

As the year draws to a close, investors are weighing the merits of traditional and digital assets, with gold and Bitcoin in the spotlight.

Certified financial planner Paul Roelofse notes that gold has reached new highs, trading around $4,200 an ounce, a fourfold increase from a decade ago.

"Gold as a tangible investment is far more attractive at the moment than other alternatives."

Bitcoin, in contrast, has been far more volatile.

Its value surged dramatically during the early Trump presidency but has recently dropped sharply, highlighting its speculative nature.

Roelofse points out that both assets are 'scarce'.

"There are only 21 million Bitcoins. At the moment, they've mined about 19 million of those, so there are only 2 million to go. I think that creates a lot of hype around it because this idea of scarcity is prevailing, and people understand that the less there is of something, the more valuable it becomes.

"Gold isn't far behind that in terms of scarcity either.

We sort of estimate that there are about 240,000 metric tonnes f gold which have been found on the Earth. Only 57,000 tonnes still have to be mined of that. So, there is a limitation in gold, too.

"I think what's translating right now is that at the end of this year, with all this risk and all these uncertainties around us, gold is starting to prevail again. It's starting to hold its own.

"In a world of uncertainty, I think the favour is more in the direction of gold than it might be in the crypto sphere."

To listen to Roelofse in conversation with 702's John Perlman, click below: