A 16-year-old forum post by Bitcoin’s mysterious creator was recently dusted off to defend the asset’s “digital gold” narrative.
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, has come up with a detailed rebuttal to critics who claim Bitcoin has failed as a hedge against currency debasement.
Thorn argues that the true “digital gold” thesis is more about a fundamental vision laid out by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2010 instead of short-term price fluctuations.
The “failed” trade
Since September 2025, Bitcoin has notably decoupled from gold. Thorn admits this divergence has been damaging to sentiment.
“Bitcoin’s failure to trade like gold as part of ‘the debasement trade’ since Sep. ‘25 damaged its narrative with new entrants,” Thorn wrote on X.
However, he contends that the market is confusing “beta” with “fundamentals.”
Satoshi’s thought experiment
Thorn pointed to a seminal post by Satoshi Nakamoto on the Bitcointalk forum, which dates back all the way to Aug. 27, 2010. It is devoted to the intrinsic value of the then-nascent cryptocurrency.
Satoshi asked readers to imagine a “base metal as scarce as gold” but stripped of all its useful physical qualities (boring grey in colour, not a good conductor of electricity, not particularly strong, not useful for any practical or ornamental purpose).
Despite these deficiencies, he assigned this metal “one special, magical property: can be transported over a communications channel”.
Satoshi concluded that this property alone could monetize the asset.
“If it somehow acquired any value at all for whatever reason, then anyone wanting to transfer wealth over a long distance could buy some, transmit it, and have the recipient sell it.”
The “magical” delta
According to Thorn, this thought experiment is the “digital gold” thesis in its purest form.
It describes an asset that mimics gold’s scarcity and durability but adds the “magical” utility of instant, global transferability.
“The delta between bitcoin’s fundamental gold-like properties and the market pricing it in relation to gold, and the likelihood that bitcoin will eventually close the gap, is the ‘digital gold’ investment thesis,” Thorn explained.
For investors willing to look past the recent volatility, this could be a significant opportunity, according to Thorn.
“And if you believe that the market will eventually value bitcoin like gold, that’s your alpha.”