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Crypto vs gold: which is better for long-term savings?

If you’re comparing crypto vs gold as potential investments, it’s important to understand the fundamental differences between these two asset classes. Both have their use cases, but which is a better option depends on your financial goals and risk appetite.

On one side, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology promise a new, digital financial future. On the other side, gold has quietly preserved wealth for thousands of years.

So which is a better option? The short answer is that crypto may appeal to traders looking to make quick profits whereas gold is a better option for long-term savings.

Let’s take a closer look.

Crypto vs gold: two very different assets

Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are relatively recent technologies that are challenging traditional financial systems. Bitcoin, in particular, introduced the concept of digital scarcity and decentralisation.

Gold, on the other hand, has been used as a store of value for thousands of years. It has outlived empires, wars, financial crises and technological revolutions.

The key point is that gold and crypto are in different stages of maturity. Gold is a proven store of value, whereas the crypto industry is still in its early stages of development. 

Why is this important? Because it means gold is more stable whereas cryptocurrencies are prone to significantly more price volatility.

The crypto industry is still in its infancy

Let’s be clear: blockchain and the crypto industry have a bright future.

Blockchain technology has the potential to upgrade parts of the financial system. But the industry is still evolving.

Here are the reasons for this:

Regulations are still being worked on

Governments and regulators around the world are still working on regulations and standards that will lay out the ground rules for cryptocurrencies.

Questions remain around:

  • Investor protections
  • Market transparency
  • Custody standards
  • Exchange regulation

Until global regulatory frameworks are established, volatility will likely remain a feature of the crypto market.

Market manipulation still exists

The cryptocurrency market is significantly smaller than traditional financial markets.

This makes them more vulnerable to:

  • Whale trading
  • Market manipulation
  • Sudden liquidity shocks

Events like coordinated liquidations or exchange failures can cause large price swings within hours.

Only a few cryptocurrencies have real utility

There are now thousands of cryptocurrencies in existence.

However, only a handful have:

  • Real-world utility
  • Strong development ecosystems
  • Long-term adoption potential

Most crypto projects are lacking in either utility or adoption and are unlikely to survive long term.

Gold vs Bitcoin: price performance

Over the last year, gold has significantly outperformed Bitcoin:

Gold (XAU) vs Bitcoin (BTC)

But why has there been such a big difference in price performance?

Whilst Bitcoin is talked about as “digital gold”, the reality is it’s traded like a risk-on asset, along with the rest of the crypto market. In fact, it has a strong correlation in price movement with technology stocks. This is why crypto prices often fall during periods of economic uncertainty.

By contrast, gold typically performs best during risk-off environments, when investors seek stability and protection.

Gold is the new Bitcoin

Many people have talked about Bitcoin as “digital gold”. The idea is that Bitcoin could be used as a digital store of value similar to gold.

But the reality is Bitcoin is not there yet, and the crypto industry as a whole still needs to achieve:

  • Clear global regulatory frameworks
  • Mainstream adoption
  • Institutional infrastructure
  • Robust global security standards

Until these foundations are established, Bitcoin will likely continue to experience significant volatility.

But interestingly, something else is happening at the same time.

Gold itself is undergoing a digital transformation. Owning gold no longer comes with the hassle of storing and insuring it yourself. 

TallyMoney is leading the way here, and crucially, we’ve enabled payments too. You can store your savings in gold, and spend in any currency around the world.

Bitcoin’s vision has become gold’s reality.

In the age of technology, you get the value preservation of gold with the speed and liquidity of cash.

Crypto vs gold: different tools for different investors

Cryptocurrencies will play an important role in the future of finance, and the industry should enjoy significant growth over time.

But the distinction between trading assets and savings assets is the key distinction.

Crypto tends to appeal to traders, or people who prefer high-risk, high-reward opportunities.

Gold, on the other hand, is a better option for people who want to protect and grow their savings steadily over the long term.

Final thoughts: crypto vs gold

If your financial goals include long-term savings and wealth preservation, gold has several clear advantages over crypto:

  • Gold has been a proven store of value over thousands of years
  • Lower volatility than crypto
  • Protection against inflation and currency debasement
  • Safe haven during economic uncertainty

Crypto’s future is bright and its volatility will appeal to short-term traders. However, in an increasingly uncertain world, gold is a better option for those who want to grow their savings over the long term.

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Real World Examples

  1. Fancy a coffee? Use your TallyMoney Mastercard. Boom – paid. (Yes, you’re buying a flat white with gold. How amazing is that?)
  2. Need cash? Use any Mastercard ATM worldwide or spend across the globe. ZERO fees from us, ZERO markup. (When you spend or withdraw, your gold converts instantly at the global spot price. No catches, no hidden charges – just straight-up Mastercard exchange rates. Because your money shouldn’t cost you… more money.)
  3. Want some money back in your bank? Just tap ‘transfer’ in the app. (Though after a while, you might wonder why you’d want to…)

    Zero faff. Zero waiting. Zero fees when you spend tally.

Meet Cameron Parry

Meet the guy who wouldn’t accept being trapped in a ‘heads they win, tales we lose’ government-run monetary system that protects and benefits the financial institutions, to the detriment of the public. Where people’s deposits are constantly at risk, and losing value through inflation caused by central bankers and politicians.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then frustration may be the roommate’s cousin of motivation. In any case, he decided to stop getting mad and start a new monetary system with sound money. Where deposits serve the depositor, where savings build wealth for savers, and transactions are made in a familiar way. And he called it TallyMoney.

TallyMoney: Gold upgraded

With TallyMoney:

  • Your pounds instantly become physical gold (1 tally = 1mg of real gold)
    Stored in Swiss vaults (not under your bed)
  • Fully insured and allocated (actually yours, not a paper promise)
  • Spend it anywhere with your TallyMoney debit Mastercard
  • Transfer back to pounds instantly if needed (but why would you?)

We’re not anti-bank because it’s trendy. We’re anti-bank because the current system is rigged against you. Every day you leave money in a “savings” account, you’re funding their profits while your wealth evaporates.

Enter gold: the original currency

Why gold? It’s value is universally acknowledged.

  • It’s not controlled by any single government
  • It can’t be printed or manufactured
  • It’s actually scarce 
  • It requires effort to extract it 
  • It doesn’t rust, decay, or disappear
  • It has remarkable properties

So while the pound’s lost 50% of its value since 2004, gold’s grown by 146% in the last decade alone. While your bank savings got mugged by inflation, gold owners were laughing all the way to… well, not the bank.

But here’s the rub: Traditional gold ownership is a right pain. Buy physical bars? Prepare for storage fees that’ll make your eyes water, insurance premiums that never end, and a 5-10% haircut when you need to sell. Plus, try buying your weekly shop with a gold ingot.
Paper gold ETFs? They’re classed as Tier 3 assets for a reason – that’s financial speak for “risky as hell.” You don’t own gold, you own a promise. A tradeable IOU. And when everyone wants their gold at once? Good luck with that. So you’re stuffed either way: real gold that’s impossible to use, or fake gold that might not be there when you need it.
Until now.

The truth about inflation

How? Well, when politicians overspend (and they invariably do), they need more money to ‘stimulate the economy’. But raising taxes makes voters angry. So what do they do? They fire up the money printer, and boy do they love to print. To give you a sense of the scale, since 2015 the Bank of England has created £520bn out of thin air through “quantitative easing” (electronic money printing) plus £86bn in physical currency. 

Thing is, more pounds in circulation = each pound is worth less. Think about it: In 2004, £100 could buy you a decent night out, theatre tickets, and a cab home. Today? That same £100 barely covers the theatre tickets. Your money didn’t disappear – it was diluted, like someone’s been topping up your whisky with water when you weren’t looking.

The “2% inflation target” they bang on about? That’s them telling you they plan to steal 2% of your wealth every single year. And calling it healthy.

How TallyMoney actually works?

  1. First things first: we’ve got actual gold bullion* (none of that paper-promise nonsense) locked up tight in a Brinks vault in Switzerland. Yeah, those Brinks – the security legends who’ve been protecting valuables since Queen Victoria was on the throne.
  2. You send your pounds to your TallyMoney account (bye-bye, inflation-addicted fiat!).
  3. We use the global gold spot price to instantly turn your currency into its weight in gold. No hidden or fuzzy exchange rates, just the real market gold price + 1.49% gold purchase fee.
  4. Each milligram of your physical gold = 1 tally (we keep it decimal because no one wants to faff about with troy ounces – the specific unit for measuring gold).
  5. That’s it! Your app shows your balance in tally, but remember – those aren’t just numbers on a screen. That’s your solid gold, in milligrams, sitting pretty in Switzerland.
  6. You can now save and spend your gold as you see fit.

*All Tally gold is sourced from LBMA-accredited providers because we’re rebels with a cause… and standards. Instead of tracking the gold price per kg, your money is directly converted based on the real-time global gold spot price.

TallyMoney is real money

  1. Store of value
    Your gold sits in a Swiss vault (not getting ‘quantitatively eased’ away)
    Evidenced by 5,000 years of holding its value
    Can’t be inflated by government whim and fingers on the ‘currency print’ button
  2. Medium of exchange
    Spendable at 150+ million shops worldwide (thanks, Mastercard)
    Currency converts instantly at market rates (no sneaky margins)
    Moves as quickly as sending a text 
  3. Unit of account
    1 tally = 1mg of gold. Simple
    Stable enough to actually plan your future with
    Speaks every currency’s language (gold’s kind of a big deal everywhere)

This is why TallyMoney is so much more than just owning Gold – it’s a real financial revolution. We’re not just helping you own gold; we’re bringing back what money was always meant to be. Sound Money for a Brighter Future. Because your hard work and wealth deserve better than being slowly robbed by external forces.

We want you to have real money

  1. A store of value:
    Keeps its value over time
    Insulated from devaluation/inflation
    Actually rare and can’t be created out of thin air
  2. Medium of exchange:
    Easy to use for everyday transactions
    Widely accepted
    Can be transferred efficiently
  3. Unit of account:
    Works like a proper value-measuring stick (imagine if your ruler shrunk every year – mad, right?)
    Splits nicely into useful bits
    Reliable enough to plan your future with

Why does this matter? Because your hard work deserves better than being turned into monopoly money by someone else’s actions. Every time your currency loses value (inflation) its stealing from your past work, which harms your present savings, and your future dreams.