According to Marketwatch Citigroup's "Global Chief Economist" William Buiter has some thoughts on Gold, Bitcoin, and other currencies in response to a Swiss referendum on how much gold the Swiss central bank should be keeping in reserves and where. Among those thoughts:

Gold has become a fiat commodity or a fiat commodity currency, just as the U.S. dollar, the euro, the pound sterling and the yen…are fiat paper currencies and as Bitcoin is a flat virtual currency, The main differences between them are that gold, like Bitcoin, is very costly to produce, while the production of additional paper money has an extremely low marginal cost.

Even though I view gold as pure bubble, that bubble may well be good for another 6,000 years. Its value may go from $1,200 per fine ounce to $1,500 or $5,000 for all I know. Investing a vast amount of money in something whose value is based on nothing more than a set of self -confirming beliefs will make for an exciting ride