While Bitcoin peaks, gold is looking decidedly peaky as crypto Google search trends outnumber the precious metal for the first time.
As Bloomberg reports Tuesday, the search term “buy Bitcoin” is now more frequent than “buy gold,” adding insult to injury for gold after an ounce began to cost less than one BTC for the first time this year.
“With the US stock market setting fresh all-time highs day after day, it’s no surprise gold prices have retreated,” the publication quotes UK-based BullionVault research director Adrian Ash as saying.
“Some investors are also being distracted by the noise around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
A glance at gold profits for 2017 makes an easy case for Bitcoin being the investment short of choice for the year, a tip publicly echoed by mainstream finance commentators.
Ash added BullionVault had seen 30 percent declines in monthly gold trading for October compared to the yearly average. The trend came a gold dipped six percent from one-year highs in early September.
Meanwhile, the precious metals industry is getting backdoor innovation from Blockchain technology.
Cointelegraph reported on the weekend how the UK’s Royal Mint had successfully trialed a gold tracking system using Blockchain, with 50,000 blocks already verified before its public launch.