US President Donald Trump says no one can imitate real Gold, highlighting the precious metal’s rarity despite a war-driven decline in value.
Trump made the statement during the latest cabinet meeting while discussing plans to get his face stamped on a 24-karat coin to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary. “I’m a gold person, it’s all real stuff,” said the President.
Gold Drops Amid War-Driven Volatility
In a monologue, Trump added an element of humor while speaking about the precious metal’s rarity and whether it could be imitated. He said, “Someday they’ll discover a paint that will look like gold, and the guy’s gonna be the richest man in the world.”
Gold’s price has suffered from the fallout of the ongoing war in Iran. The precious metal declined 25% this month, dropping from over $5,400 to below $4,100 in less than three weeks before rebounding to above $4,500 at the time of writing, according to TradingView’s data.
It is worth noting that the latest decline interrupted Gold’s bullish trajectory after a massive rally that saw the precious metal reach a new all-time high of $5,602 in the last week of January, before pulling back to $4,402 ahead of the next rebound before the war began.
Debate Over Gold’s Long-Term Role
In the meantime, Trump’s “irreplaceable” comment about Gold triggered a debate on social media, with respondents to the post on X questioning the President’s motive. One such respondent thinks Trump’s obsession with the metal is more about optics than substance. He argued that the claim that nothing can replace gold feels like a bold statement, considering advancements in materials science.
An XRP supporter responding to the same post questioned gold’s status as the ultimate standard in an era of sustainability and conscious consumerism. He highlighted the possibility of creating alternatives that mimic the precious metal’s brilliance without the environmental cost.
Bitcoin vs Gold Narrative Returns
Trump’s latest comment about gold also reignited the debate over the mineral resource and Bitcoin, which is often referred to as digital gold. The cryptocurrency’s supporters compare it with the precious metal because they share core economic properties, such as scarcity and a decentralized store of value.
Bitcoin users argue that the cryptocurrency was created to replicate gold’s properties in a digital format. Unlike gold, which involves physical activity and engagement in the mining process, Bitcoin’s extraction is all about complex math and code.
Related: Bitcoin Outperforms Gold as Inflation Hedge in Market Shift
