BITCOIN AS DIGITAL GOLD: THE HIDDEN RETAILIZATION OF SCARCITY

Abstract

ABSTRACT This report examines the “Bitcoin as digital gold” narrative through the concept of the Retailization of Scarcity. It argues that Bitcoin’s mathematical supply limit does not automatically create value, and that scarcity becomes financially powerful only when it is narrated, packaged, institutionalized, traded, and repeatedly believed by market participants. Rather than claiming that Bitcoin is inherently fraudulent or meaningless, the report focuses on the structures surrounding Bitcoin: price prophecy, financial packaging, retail investor access, media amplification, and the asymmetry of forecast responsibility. It distinguishes Bitcoin as a protocol and speculative asset from the commercial narratives that transform limited code into a simplified investment myth. The report analyzes how the digital gold metaphor compresses technical, market, custody, liquidity, regulatory, and incentive risks into emotionally powerful language. It also examines how forecasts, exchange-traded products, custodial services, and public narratives can turn uncertainty into perceived inevitability for ordinary investors. The central argument is that the problem is not the existence of Bitcoin itself, but the hidden retailization of scarcity: the process through which mathematical scarcity is disguised as inevitable wealth, price prophecy as foresight, convenience as conviction, and monetization as monetary truth. This document is an analytical report and does not constitute investment advice.