One of the noted evangelists of money libertinism, Ron Paul conducted a poll to find out which long-term investment option most people would prefer. To no one’s surprise, an overwhelming majority voted for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin.
Huge Preference For Bitcoin Among Respondents
Dr. Ron Paul, former Texas Republican Congressman, and perennial Presidential Candidate has conducted a Twitter poll to find out which investment option most people would favor if given a $10,000 gift. Paul added the caveat that the investment chosen must remain untouched for 10 years.
He gave respondents four options: Federal Reserve Notes, Gold, Bitcoin and the 10-year US Treasury Bond. Of the 74,681 votes so far, 58% prefer bitcoin while 33% prefer Gold. The Federal Reserve Notes and 10-year Treasury bonds are lagging behind at 2% and 7% respectively, showing how skeptical a majority of the people are about entrusting their investments with centralized authorities.
Ron Paul has long been a critic of the Federal Reserve. Regarding his stance on cryptocurrencies, he opined in July that he supports cryptocurrencies since they promote personal liberty, unlike the Fed. In the same vein, he recently received his first bitcoin from the board member of Bitcoin Foundation and Founder of bitcoin wallet provider Ballet Crypto, Bobby Lee, during the 2019 Litecoin Summit.
Why Bitcoin Is The Best Long-Term Investment
The conversation about which asset is a better store of value between bitcoin and gold has been ongoing for a long time owing to the fact that both assets are scarce in supply. However, unlike gold, bitcoin can easily be sent from one person to another electronically. Not forgetting the fact that bitcoin is completely portable as it is easily stored in hot wallets, unlike gold.
As we previously reported, bitcoin investors have raked in almost 150% returns year-to-date while Gold’s returns are a mere 18%. Moving forward, bitcoin may continue outshining gold as the growing optimism on the Sino-US trade war might reduce safe-haven demand for the precious metal.
Federal Reserve Notes typically means the dollar bills circulated by the United States, implying that the $10,000 gift would be held in the paper currency for the 10-year period. Notably, Federal Reserve Notes are not a typical investment option and are highly prone to devaluation as a result of inflation. It’s no wonder only 2% of the respondents voted for this option.
US 10-year Treasury bonds are the returns accrued from investing in treasury security issued by the United States federal government after a decade-long maturity period. They are often low-risk and therefore very popular. They also have a high guarantee since the United States government can always print more dollars to offset its debts. However, over the last 10 years or so, investors in these Treasury bonds have received returns averaging 3%.
All in all, due to the creation of bitcoin out of code, the extents of its functionality are bound to grow in the future as more and more developers explore new creative ways to leverage the technology. Moreover, considering that of all the four assets, bitcoin has had the most returns, it’s safe to say that 42% of respondents against a long-term bitcoin investment are backing the wrong horse.
