Market analyst Jesse Eckel indicates that Bitcoin may have a significant advantage over gold, and this advantage may become even more important as scientists continue to make progress in artificially producing this precious metal.
In a post published on X on October 21st, Eckel argued that technological breakthroughs could ultimately diminish the scarcity of gold, whereas the supply of Bitcoin would continue to be constrained by mathematical limitations.
"The reality is that it will eventually be possible to cultivate gold in laboratories, and it will become as inexpensive as diamonds," writes Eckel.
“There will never be a $ BTC cultivated in a laboratory,” he added.
His comment was in response to a surprising announcement from a San Francisco startup, Marathon Fusion. The company claimed to have made a breakthrough in converting mercury into real gold.
Scientists make progress in artificial gold
On October 21st, Marathon Fusion announced that it had successfully demonstrated what it claimed to be high-speed alchemy.
"Last month, we demonstrated high-speed alchemy: converting mercury into real, stable gold, breaking the CERN record by 10 times," the company stated.
The startup also claims to have developed a powerful plasma centrifuge that can be used for isotope enrichment, and its performance has surpassed a Soviet-era record that has stood for 40 years.
Marathon Fusion is currently building a fusion reactor in San Francisco to achieve a record power density.
However, its ambition for gold production has attracted a great deal of attention.
In 2025, the company outlined a process that theoretically allows for the production of about 5,000 kilograms of gold per year in a gigawatt-class fusion power plant.
This proposed technology utilizes high-energy neutrons to convert specific mercury isotopes into gold through nuclear transmutation.
However, large-scale commercial production is still a long way off. The company's latest experimental claims do not prove that artificial gold can be produced at low cost or on an industrial scale.
Why the scarcity of Bitcoin may be different
The argument of Eckel touches on one of the core narratives surrounding the attractiveness of long-term investment in Bitcoin: its predictable scarcity.
Unlike gold, the total supply of gold can increase due to the discovery of new deposits, technological improvements, or even nuclear transmutation; whereas the maximum supply of Bitcoin is approximately 21 million coins.
The issuance of this cryptocurrency follows a predetermined schedule, with mining rewards halving approximately every four years.
Any attempt to increase the supply of Bitcoin above the established cap would require modifying the network's consensus rules.
