Russia has been very reliant on the US dollar for a very long time. President Vladimir Putin would like to change that. It is because of this that the Russian National Bank has been the biggest buyer of gold in the world. This has been a very wise decision on their part. Russia now has a reserve of gold that is worth $109 billion. This gold has gone up in value by over 40 percent this year. There are many countries that have turned to Bitcoin instead of precious metals. There is no question that Russia is one of the biggest countries when it comes to mining for Bitcoin. However, the government clearly believes that gold is a much safer investment than Bitcoin.
There are other countries that have invested heavily in gold as well. Why have they chosen to invest in gold instead of Bitcoin? The answer is that Bitcoin does not have the ability to protect the national currency of a country against inflation. Countries around the world are stocking up on gold because of a fear that a global recession is right around the corner. They believe that depending on Bitcoin during a recession would not be a safe bet. The value of gold is something that these countries can count on in a moment of economic crisis.
One of the big things that Bitcoin has going against it is the extreme volatility of cryptocurrencies in general. It is this volatility that would prevent it from being a reliable asset for a country to invest in to protect itself against a global recession. Just recently, trade problems between several major countries caused the stock market to fall. During this time, Bitcoin also dropped in value. However, gold experienced an increase in value. This only backed up what many people have been saying about the dependability of gold compared to Bitcoin.
How much gold will Russia buy? It remains to be seen. They have shown no signs of slowing down. There are many people who still feel that Bitcoin is a safe and reliable alternative to traditional banking. There are strong arguments on both the side of gold and Bitcoin. However, it seems like Russia has made their decision for the time being. Another country that has been stockpiling gold recently is China. The country has banned cryptocurrency trading. Therefore, China has no choice but to buy gold unless they change their laws.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-russia-still-choosing-gold-090025028.html