Bitcoin (Bitcoin) is not a fundamental threat to the value of gold, Sandeep Biswas, Managing Director of Australia's biggest gold miner Newcrest Mining says, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"A store of value, and maybe I'm too much of a traditionalist, in my view has to be something you can feel and touch. So a store of value, like gold, or it used to be silver or other precious metals, in my view is a true store of value," Biswas said on the sidelines of Newcrest's annual general meeting in Melbourne.
"Because it doesn't matter what happens, if you've got your arm around that gold that's yours, for example. The thing with Bitcoin and other currencies, it's got to be backed by something, so currencies are backed by government, that's fine, Bitcoin is backed by security or its uniqueness.
Biswas sees Bitcoin as more of a currency than a store of value, such as a precious metal like gold.
“I don't see Bitcoin as a fundamental threat to the value of gold. It's just introducing a new age currency into the mix of old age currencies," he said.
Newcrest's chairman, Peter Hay, said to the extent that Bitcoin was "used as a store of value by people it doesn't seem to be affecting the gold market at all. And there's no noticeable effect on gold".