Peer-to-Peer & Non-Possessory Control is the Real Value Proposition
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Sit back and think how many times characters in movies and books have bartered with gold coins, dreamt of gold bars or spoken of golden objects with a twinkle of lust in their eyes.

There are practical reasons that gold finds itself as the default placeholder for a thing of value regardless of the time period, character-plight or geographical location. Gold transcends nearly all hypothetical barriers, not simply because of scarcity, but because it is an apolitical, non-centrally-controlled, trustless commodity that is **traded almost entirely** [**peer-to-peer**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer)**.**

You can be transported in a time machine or spend years traversing Mordor, but when you find civilization, someone [will accept your gold](http://backtothefuture.wikia.com/wiki/Money_suitcase) in exchange for much needed sustenance (or an army with ships). While its market value will likely have changed in your absence, regimes toppled and entire people displaced, **gold’s** [**utility**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility) will remain impervious to systemic externalities.

But how can this be? Its most fundamental value proposition is as a bearer commodity that requires no third party involvement to exist or be stored. Like [bearer bonds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bearer_bonds), a person needs only to have control over its location and it needs only to be in a person’s control to be bartered. (This is why everyone loves treasure maps!)

**Cryptocurrencies Are Future Gold and Act As Bearer Instruments**

The easiest way to explain [Bitcoin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo) and similar cryptocurrencies is to refer to them as **digital bearer instruments** (like bearer bonds, except they don’t represent an entity’s debt repayment promise). You can send them directly to another person. All you need is **control** over them, via a [private key](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Private_key). Think of a private key as a secret password that you can safely traverse the world, galaxy or [007-esque](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_y7YEIphts) plot line with. In fact, you don’t even need to find somewhere safe to keep them, like a vault or freezer. Bitcoins are stored in the open source, public [blockchain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzDO44oZWtE) as a protocol waiting to be instructed (redeemed) and are only transferable via a private key (a long number mathematically related to a public key).

While [Bitcoin wallets](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Wallet) are popular, they aren’t necessary to control Bitcoin. Online wallets, or hot-wallets, make it more practical to send and receive Bitcoin, but wallets are only as secure as your password and Bitcoin client software.

In its purest state, all a person needs is a private key to access a fortune. Private keys are unique and correspond to public keys, which like an email address is where mail/Bitcoin is sent and is deposited. These keys can be sent physically or electronically. They can be encrypted, portioned or [hidden in plain sight](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28366880/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/spy-trick-hides-messages-plain-sight/#.UwFB4mSwI0U). **Non-possessory control over a publicly visible, yet unredeemable (without the private key) stash of treasure** is something surely every writer wished was at their disposable and wasn’t until now — without magic of course.

I’m [Chase Perkins](https://twitter.com/@chasethetruth), Founder [@Thoughtly\_me](http://twitter.com/Thoughtly_me "Twitter profile for @Thoughtly_me") AI for enterprise to analyze, visualize and summarize text. Attorney.

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