Survey Shock: Americans Favor Bitcoin Over Gold Reserves—Wall Street Grinds Teeth

Move over, Fort Knox—the digital gold rush is on. A new survey reveals growing sentiment among Americans to swap traditional gold reserves for Bitcoin, triggering equal parts excitement and eye-rolls from legacy finance.

Gold’s 6,000-year reign as the ultimate store of value? Apparently, that’s ‘boomer tech’ now. Bitcoin’s finite supply and borderless utility are winning over skeptics—even as bankers mutter about ‘volatility’ between sips of their $20 artisanal coffee.

Funny how ‘sound money’ arguments vanish when the asset isn’t theirs to control. The Fed’s printer may run hot, but Bitcoin’s code stays cold—and voters are noticing.

Respondents were asked what percentage of gold reserves the U.S. should convert into Bitcoin. They were given a slider to select any value between 0% and 100% to indicate their answer.

“Assuming the United States was thinking of converting some of their gold reserve into Bitcoin, what percentage WOULD you advise they convert?,” was the exact survey question.

Bitcoin reserve survey criticized for leading question

The methodology quickly drew scrutiny, even within crypto circles. Many criticized the use of a slider and suggested that a yes-or-no question would have been more meaningful. Jan Wüstenfeld, lead researcher at Melanion GreenTech, called the design “unfortunate.”

“The way you framed it and set it up, you effectively pushed people to answer with a non-zero allocation,” Wüstenfeld wrote. “You say it yourself: People are reluctant to set a slider at zero.”

Nakamoto Project’s Troy Cross acknowledged the framing effects, but pointed out that the survey still gave valuable results. For instance, younger people favored bigger allocations, while women recommended smaller allocations than men.