Jul 9, 2026 · 44 min · 11 segments
Cohosts Rebecca Patterson and Sebastian Mallaby stage a friendly debate over two so-called dollar alternatives—gold and bitcoin—weighing whether either has truly earned its reputation as a store of…
Rebecca PattersonHost
Sebastian MallabyHostI mean, they both have been rising, uh, pretty nicely against the dollar for some time.
There's one thing that they both have in common, at least one thing, and that's limited supply.
You know, obviously when it comes to the US dollar, there's no constraints on supply.
The, the US can increase dollar supply any time it wants, which obviously is gonna create worries from time to time that money printing could happen as the government tries to grapple with very large and growing debts.
Um, but in contrast, gold, uh, it, supply increases only if you have one or both of two things.
Um, the gold recycling is primarily people melting down their jewelry when prices are high, but it's more marginal.
The bigger deal is mines, and getting gold out of mines is very capital intensive, labor intensive, and it takes years, so it doesn't turn the needle very quickly.
Um, and in terms of, like, how much supply is out there, like, how much new gold could we see, i- in theory it's material, right? Um, you've got about 60,000, 64,000 tons of extractable gold reportedly that exists globally.
That is meaningful, uh, because the above ground stock of gold today is just under 220,000 tons.
Well, may- maybe I get to score a debate point here because in contrast to gold, Bitcoin supply is much more limited.
It's hardwired at 21 million Bitcoins, and the 20 millionth Bitcoin was mined earlier this year, and the last one million of supply are gonna be mined very, very gradually.
I mean, uh, the last one is supposed to be mined way out in the future, 2140.
Basically, therefore, Bitcoin supply is, you could say, f- pretty much fixed right now.
I mean, it can go up maybe by 5%, but even 5%, you know, which is the ultimate target in more than a century hence, uh, is, is nothing compared to what you just told me, uh, as to how much the gold supply, uh, can increase.
[laughs] Well, I, I will give you that, but, but I will add there is one caveat that I think is worth knowing, and that's that the gold in the ground, that potential additional supply is, has been there for years and years and years for a reason.
I mean, they both have been rising, uh, pretty nicely against the dollar for some time.
There's one thing that they both have in common, at least one thing, and that's limited supply.
You know, obviously when it comes to the US dollar, there's no constraints on supply.
The, the US can increase dollar supply any time it wants, which obviously is gonna create worries from time to time that money printing could happen as the government tries to grapple with very large and growing debts.
Um, but in contrast, gold, uh, it, supply increases only if you have one or both of two things.
Um, the gold recycling is primarily people melting down their jewelry when prices are high, but it's more marginal.
The bigger deal is mines, and getting gold out of mines is very capital intensive, labor intensive, and it takes years, so it doesn't turn the needle very quickly.
Um, and in terms of, like, how much supply is out there, like, how much new gold could we see, i- in theory it's material, right? Um, you've got about 60,000, 64,000 tons of extractable gold reportedly that exists globally.
That is meaningful, uh, because the above ground stock of gold today is just under 220,000 tons.
Well, may- maybe I get to score a debate point here because in contrast to gold, Bitcoin supply is much more limited.
It's hardwired at 21 million Bitcoins, and the 20 millionth Bitcoin was mined earlier this year, and the last one million of supply are gonna be mined very, very gradually.
I mean, uh, the last one is supposed to be mined way out in the future, 2140.
Basically, therefore, Bitcoin supply is, you could say, f- pretty much fixed right now.
I mean, it can go up maybe by 5%, but even 5%, you know, which is the ultimate target in more than a century hence, uh, is, is nothing compared to what you just told me, uh, as to how much the gold supply, uh, can increase.
[laughs] Well, I, I will give you that, but, but I will add there is one caveat that I think is worth knowing, and that's that the gold in the ground, that potential additional supply is, has been there for years and years and years for a reason.
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