The four most famous international exchanges:

Binance INTL	OKX INTL	Gate.io INTL	Huobi INTL
China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL

Note: The above exchange logo is the official website registration link, and the text is the APP download link.

With the physical gold market under pressure, is Bitcoin the next best option? In times of economic crisis, gold has been a tried-and-true solution for decades for those seeking to protect their wealth. Indeed, the metal has retained its value for thousands of years, is universally loved, and is scarce.

Gold’s safe-haven status has been demonstrated once again in the past few months, with the price of gold reaching $1,700 in early March, a multi-year high. The idea of gold is that due to its scarcity and ability to retain value, it should be a good investment in times of economic hardship, even amid the unprecedented ongoing coronavirus crisis that has devastated the stock market, oil, and Bitcoin.

Related: April Oil Price Plunge Brings Unexpected Risks to Crypto Markets

The problem: There is a shortage of physical gold. With bullion shops closed, mints shuttered around the world, and mines shut down, the prototypical gold bars you see in the movies are more scarce than ever. In fact, derivatives that offer delivery of physical gold have had to cancel or delay shipments of said physical gold.

As a result, the value of physical gold and paper gold (futures, derivatives) has diverged. A CryptoSlate search on eBay for 1-ounce gold coins and bars yielded results above $1,800, more than 10% higher than the price of gold futures.

How will this affect Bitcoin?

Many are divided on what exactly this means for global markets, but according to prominent financial commentator and well-known Bitcoin bull Preston
Pysh, a shortage of physical gold could have a huge impact on the leading cryptocurrency.

On March 30, he offered his opinion when he asked his followers which trades market investors would most likely take if they wanted to “go short” given that gold is under pressure. Pysh did not mention “Bitcoin,” but as indicated by his replies to his tweeted comments, it is clear that he sees the cryptocurrency as one of the alternatives to gold.

Indeed, many have come to believe that with gold prices strong but gold and silver markets under pressure, it makes sense for Bitcoin to start absorbing some of the demand typically seen in times of crisis.

Pseudonymous industry commentator “Zender” explained in a wide-ranging thread that the scarcity of physical gold will accelerate BTC’s emergence as an investable hard asset “due to its 24/7 availability and because physical gold will be difficult to spend in the digital world. Furthermore, it’s much easier to grab one’s physical gold than one’s Bitcoin.

Not to mention, unlike gold (which can be found in abundance on other planets), Bitcoin is absolutely scarce, with a strict 21 million coin limit enforced by a global decentralized network of miners. PlanB predicts that this scarcity model alone will make BTC more valuable than gold in the coming decades.