黃金投資者會買比特幣嗎？

持有黃金好還是持有比特幣好？加密貨幣公司Grayscale推薦比特幣，并且為此投入數百萬美元發起了一場空前的營銷活動，包括在整個美國播放一年的電視廣告。

活動名為“放棄黃金”，已從上周三開始。在當天播放了一條時長39秒的廣告，內容是一男一女匆忙地在一個金融區中奔跑，而他們周圍的人紛紛被大塊兒黃金壓的步履艱難。

廣告語這樣問道：“你為什么要投資黃金？你是在投資過去嗎？”

據Grayscale介紹，這條廣告將通過無線、有線和Hulu等流媒體三條渠道播出一整年，而且該公司還將在社交媒體網站上投放大量廣告。

所有這些構成了一次大膽“賭博”—— Grayscale賭的是此番廣告宣傳帶來的比特幣新買家足以抵消它的高額營銷費用。但實際上會說服多少人放棄黃金投資并且轉而選擇比特幣呢？那可只是一些計算機代碼構成的數字貨幣呀。

如果投資者為了比特幣而“放棄”黃金，Grayscale就會受益。該公司首席執行官巴里·西爾伯特認為人們會邁出這一步，這并不意外。在西爾伯特看來，比特幣具有出眾的儲值功能，就像上述廣告所言，它是一種更輕便而且更實際的長期投資手段。西爾伯特還相信，和互聯網共同成長的一代人不會那么癡迷于貴金屬。

他說：“23歲的人要金條干嗎？我非常確信他們會把金條賣了?！蔽鳡柌剡€表示，他相信今后幾年那些繼承了黃金的人會去尋找其他投資途徑。

目前全世界所有黃金的總價值約為8萬億美元，而現有比特幣的價值約為950億美元。也就是說，比特幣在追趕黃金方面還有很長的路要走。當然，黃金在圣經時代就已經有了價格，而比特幣的“年齡”幾乎還不到10歲。

黃金的“出身”是被稱為黃金死忠的那些投資者認為即使股票和債券等傳統資產崩盤，黃金也仍能發揮保值作用的一大原因。還不清楚會有多少這樣的黃金死忠把自己的信任轉移到比特幣身上。

不過，西爾伯特相信人們低估了代際觀念的變化。他指出，今年初以來比特幣的價值上漲了45%，黃金價格則基本持平。當然，比特幣在2017年底的泡沫期逼近2萬美元后暴跌了80%以上，目前的價格約為5300美元。

西爾伯特還認為，市場對黃金的興趣在很大程度上要歸結于世界黃金協會的大力營銷，這個行業組織在2004年協助設立了第一只黃金交易所交易基金（ETF），后者問世之際正值黃金價格猛漲。有許多人認為，如果監管部門批準設立比特幣ETF（盡管美國證券交易委員會斷然拒絕了此事），比特幣也會出現同樣的行情。

西爾伯特說：“要質疑一下20年來世界黃金協會一直告訴你的那些東西。我們并不是在說大家應該把微軟的股票賣掉，然后去買比特幣，但比特幣應該成為配置對象之一?！?/p>

Grayscale的營銷活動將讓人們注意到該公司在柜臺市場交易的比特幣信托產品。但西爾伯特說能讓他滿意的情況是通常以較低價格直接銷售比特幣的其他加密貨幣公司從這次宣傳推廣中受益。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

Is it better to hoard gold or Bitcoin? The cryptocurrency company Grayscale is making the case for Bitcoin with an unprecedented multi-million dollar marketing campaign that includes a year of national TV commercials.

The campaign, which is called “Drop Gold” and kicked off on Wednesday, features a 39-second commercial that shows a man and woman who race frantically around a financial district while people around them are weighed down by bulky gold.

“Why did you invest in gold?” the ad asks. “Are you investing in the past?”

According to Grayscale, the ad (which you can watch below) will run all year on broadcast and cable networks and on streaming services like Hulu. The company will also be advertising heavily on social media sites.

All of this amounts to a bold bet that the ad campaign will produce enough new Bitcoin buyers to offset Grayscale’s major marketing expenses. But how many people will actually be persuaded to give up investing in gold in favor of Bitcoin—a digital currency that exists only as bits of computer code?

Unsurprisingly, Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert, whose company will profit if investors “drop gold” for Bitcoin, thinks people will make the leap. In his view, Bitcoin is a superior store of value because—as the commercial suggests—it is a lighter and more practical way to hold a long-term investment. Silbert also believes a generation who grew up with the Internet is less enamored with precious metals.

“What’s a 23-year-old going to do with a gold bar? I’m highly confident they’re going to sell it,” he said, adding that he believes those who receive gold as an inheritance in coming years will seek other investments.

Currently, the total value of gold in the world is worth approximately $8 trillion, while the current supply of Bitcoin is worth around $95 billion—suggesting the digital currency has a long way to go to catch the yellow metal. Gold, of course, has also been prized since biblical days while Bitcoin is barely a decade old.

Gold’s pedigree is a big reason a certain class of investors, known as gold bugs, view it as a way to own something that will hold its value even if conventional assets like stocks and bonds collapse. It’s unclear how many gold bugs would put their trust in Bitcoin instead.

Silbert, however, believes people are underestimating the shift in generational attitudes, and notes that Bitcoin has risen 45% in value since the start of the year while the price of gold has been basically flat. Of course the price of Bitcoin dropped over 80% following the bubble of late 2017 when it hit nearly $20,000. Currently, Bitcoin trades at around $5,300.

Silbert also attributes much of the market interest in gold to an aggressive marketing campaign by the World Gold Council, the industry trade group that helped promote the first gold ETF in 2004. The arrival of the ETF coincided with soaring gold prices, and many think the same will happen if regulators approve an ETF for Bitcoin (though the Securities and Exchange Commission has emphatically refused to do so).

“Question what you’ve been told by the World Gold Council for the last 20 years,” said Silbert. “We’re not suggesting you should go sell your Microsoft stock and buy Bitcoin, but it should be an allocation.”

Grayscale’s marketing campaign will nudge people towards the company’s Bitcoin trust product, which is traded on the OTC markets. But Silbert says he is content if other cryptocurrency firms—which sell Bitcoin directly, typically at a lower price—benefit from its marketing campaign.