The Best of Both Worlds: How NatGold Evolves Gold and Bitcoin Into a Sustainable Monetary Alternative

Over the past decade, one argument has dominated the world of money: Gold vs. Bitcoin.

The old guard swears by gold's permanence; the new wave worships Bitcoin's digital freedom.

Yet while each camp battles for ideological purity, the financial earth beneath them has already begun to shift.

Because what we're witnessing right now isn't the victory of one over the other — it's the evolution beyond both.

Recently, I sat down with Anthony Wile, founder of NatGold Digital Ltd., to discuss the birth of a new monetary species — one forged from the trust of gold and the technology of Bitcoin.

What he reveals could mark the moment the world finally steps out of the gold-versus-crypto stalemate… and into the future of sound money itself.

Without further ado, here is my exclusive interview with Anthony…

Brian Hicks: Anthony, the news cycle has picked up again around Peter Schiff and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao debating gold versus Bitcoin. You've called it déjà vu. Why?

Anthony Wile: Because we've heard it all before. Michael Saylor and Frank Giustra went through the same motions a few years back. Each camp defends its territory — one shouting "digital freedom," the other "tangible value." Both make valid points, both miss the larger one. The real question isn't which side wins; it's how we evolve beyond the limits of both. NatGold is that evolution.

Brian: Let's start with those limits. What do gold and Bitcoin each get right — and where do they fail?

Anthony: Gold gets permanence right. For millennia, it has anchored economies, preserved wealth, and bridged civilizations — nature's original store of value: finite, incorruptible, universally recognized. But the way we use it is broken. Physical extraction destroys ecosystems, funds illegal mining networks, and concentrates wealth in vaults that too often hold counterfeit bars — tungsten-filled "gold" that some observers estimate may represent a meaningful share of above-ground supply.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, gets decentralization and speed right. It proved digital scarcity can exist. But it's unanchored — and it burns immense energy to "mine" algorithms that produce nothing tangible.

The Bitcoin network consumes roughly 160–175 terawatt-hours of electricity each year, comparable to the power use of a medium-sized nation, and generates nearly 100 million tonnes of CO2 annually, along with significant e-waste and water use from mining operations. In short, its proof-of-work design trades digital scarcity for real-world energy and carbon cost. Even when powered by renewables, that energy could be creating something that actually moves humanity forward.

Yet despite that burden, Bitcoin reshaped the modern financial imagination, proving that trust and value can be created without intermediaries — an innovation that opened the door for more efficient and sustainable digital asset models to follow.

So gold is real but environmentally destructive, and Bitcoin is efficient but materially empty.

Brian: And NatGold solves that by merging them?

Anthony: You could say it's as if gold and Bitcoin crawled into a cocoon together — and what emerged was a crypto commodity with golden wings.

Before it becomes NatGold, it's still just gold in the ground — real, valuable, but bound by gravity. Like a caterpillar crawling through the dirt, recognized for its potential yet weighed down by everything required to realize it the old way: heavy machinery, environmental destruction, and social displacement. The legacy system kept it crawling — literally and figuratively.

But NatGold was never meant to crawl. Left to rest in Mother Nature's vault and mined digitally rather than physically, something extraordinary happens. No excavation. No pollution. No Swiss vaults. No dilution from middlemen, logistics, or slow-moving legacy systems.

The essence of gold — its trust, scarcity, and permanence — remains intact. But now it fuses with blockchain to become something more powerful — something that moves, scales, and soars. It's gold, but evolved. Born from the best of both worlds, designed to leave the baggage behind. Digitally native. Sustainably mined. Non-dilutive. Borderless. Programmable. Portable. Still gold at its core — but elevated.

NatGold isn't a replacement for gold or Bitcoin — it's the natural evolution of both. A smarter, cleaner, more advanced monetary asset ready for the world ahead. What gold and Bitcoin were each meant to be individually, NatGold now achieves together.

Brian: That's a powerful image — "digital gold that flies." But let's get practical for a moment. How does digital mining actually work in the NatGold model?

Anthony: At its core, NatGold's digital mining process transforms verified in-ground gold deposits into a standardized, tokenized monetary asset. We currently hold eleven patents pending that collectively cover the technological and procedural territory required to homogenize every NatGold Token, regardless of where the gold resource itself resides.

The foundation of that process is built on the world's most trusted geological reporting systems — NI 43-101, JORC, and S-K 1300. These are the same standards relied upon by mining executives, financiers, and global stock exchanges to validate resources before traditional mining begins. In the NatGold model, they serve as the bedrock foundation for digital mining.

But technical reports are just one part of a much broader framework that includes independent legal title verification, AML and compliance due diligence, and our proprietary methodology for determining the portion of each resource eligible for tokenization. Every stage ensures that each NatGold Token represents a precise, verified measure of in-ground gold — identical in value to every other token issued anywhere in the world. That's what creates global fungibility and, ultimately, trust.

For those who want to see how that process works visually, I encourage them to watch our short explainer video on our website, "How In-Ground Gold Deposits Are Verified." It's the simplest way to see how digital mining replaces the bulldozer with data, and the refinery with transparency.

Brian: Let's talk about supply. Critics might wonder whether there's even enough certified gold in the ground to support something like NatGold. What does the real picture look like?

Anthony: The truth is there's an abundance of gold out there — many, many times more than what's been mined. What most people don't realize is that a huge percentage of technically proven deposits will never come out of the ground in a traditional sense. Around the world — and especially in North America — it's become nearly impossible to secure new production permits.

Environmental restrictions, community opposition, and bureaucratic gridlock have made it a production-or-bust industry — and "bust" is the outcome most of the time. Companies spend years and millions of dollars to explore, drill, and verify resources only to leave them stranded — trapped value that can't be realized.

Our patent-pending digital-mining model unlocks that value. It allows jurisdictions to generate new tax revenue where none existed, enables investors to recoup exploration capital that would otherwise be written off, and produces higher margins in a fraction of the time traditional extraction requires. And of course, the environmental win is immense — no digging, no tailings, no displaced communities. It's one of those rare situations where everyone wins.

In Canada and the United States alone, we've identified over 130 technically verified gold deposits that, if digitally mined, would yield more than 250 million NatGold Tokens with a baseline intrinsic value exceeding $500 billion. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Global supply isn't the problem — imagination has been. NatGold changes that, turning what was once stranded geological wealth into active, sustainable monetary value that benefits the entire world.

Brian: Let's talk about the other side of the equation — demand. It's one thing to have ample verified gold supply, but do you really think there will be much appetite for something like NatGold?

Anthony: The short answer is yes — and the numbers prove it. Our Pre-Market Token Access Program has already generated more than $205 million in cumulative reservations from over 10,500 participants across 157 countries. Those figures aren't projections — they're real commitments made before tokens are even tradable. Based on the baseline intrinsic value of $2,567 per token at the time of our most recent reporting, that translates to over 80,000 NatGold Tokens reserved globally.

The response has been extraordinary because it bridges two massive investor communities that rarely overlap: traditional gold investors and the modern crypto audience. Roughly 70% of our reservations are from the United States, but participation spans Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. That tells me the NatGold message resonates everywhere — sound money without environmental compromise.

For readers unfamiliar with it, the program allows qualified participants to secure early allocation of NatGold Tokens before public trading begins. Each reservation represents exposure to future tradable tokens linked directly to certified in-ground gold resources — sustainable, non-dilutive, and resource-anchored. It's not a speculative coin or a gold ETF; it's the world's first digitally mined monetary asset.

And the enthusiasm has taken on a life of its own. We're seeing what I like to call "NatGold fever." Investors understand instinctively that this is the next evolution — a bridge between two worlds that until now have been at odds. Traditionalists see intrinsic value and security.

Crypto participants see scalability, liquidity, and innovation. Together, they see inevitability. Demand isn't our problem — it's our confirmation that the world is ready for a monetary alternative that makes both economic and ethical sense.

Brian: You've mentioned something called the baseline intrinsic value, or BIV, several times. For those hearing that term for the first time, what exactly does it mean?

Anthony: Baseline intrinsic value is the true, no-hype valuation of gold in the ground. It's calculated by subtracting the global average cost to mine and vault an ounce of gold from the current spot price. In other words, it's the real in-ground operating margin of gold — it's worth before speculation, premiums, or transformation. That's where NatGold begins.

Each NatGold Token originates from that baseline — representing certified, independently verified gold resources still resting in nature's vault. From there, once digitally mined and secured on blockchain, something extraordinary happens. The token evolves. The sustainability, intrinsic purity, and non-dilutive nature of NatGold position it to capture what we call the Tesla effect — the natural premium people pay for things that align with their values.

NatGold isn't "digital gold." There are already plenty of products that claim that title. Ours is built on gold but should never be confused with its pre-metamorphosis self. NatGold is the evolved form — a fusion of verified geological reality and blockchain efficiency that turns the world's most trusted store of value into a modern, sustainable, borderless monetary asset.

And it's important to understand who we're really competing with. Our competition isn't Bitcoin or other gold-backed tokens — it's fiat money itself, the inflationary system that erodes purchasing power and disconnects value from reality. NatGold was built for the monetary reformation currently unfolding in front of us — a transformation driven by the world's growing rejection of debt-based currency. It stands as a viable, values-aligned alternative to that system.

For those who want to see how baseline intrinsic value is determined and why it matters, we've produced a short video titled "Where NatGold Begins." It illustrates how BIV defines the starting line and how digital mining transforms in-ground value into something entirely new.

Brian: So is it reasonable to assume that NatGold Tokens will trade at their baseline intrinsic value once the market opens and the pre-market phase ends?

Anthony: BIV is exactly that — a baseline, a rational starting point for valuation, not a ceiling. Once tokens begin trading freely, market forces will take over. As awareness grows and investors recognize that NatGold combines intrinsic value with sustainability and technological mobility, I expect to see premiums develop naturally. That's the Tesla effect in motion — people rewarding innovation that aligns with their ethics and with the planet's well-being. NatGold isn't another speculative token; it's sound money reborn for a conscious age.

Brian: Peter Schiff argues that if you can't take physical delivery, it's not real money. You've spoken with him directly, right?

Anthony: Yes — about a year ago on WhatsApp, as he was boarding a cruise. He raised the same point then that he'll raise again with Changpeng Zhao: For money to be trusted, it must be deliverable. I respect the concern — he wants accountability and 1-to-1 backing. But that model depends on trust in custodians and vaults, which history shows are flawed and sometimes fraudulent. NatGold replaces physical deliverability with verifiable existence. Once certified, those resources can't be inflated, diluted, or counterfeited. It's proof without possession. You can't fake geology.

Brian: But the industry still clings to physical deliverability as a mark of honesty. What's the real cost of that?

Anthony: That's the part few want to confront. Physical deliverability historically kept custodians honest by limiting claims to the metal on hand — but that assurance came at a terrible cost. To be fair, legitimate gold mining has long underpinned national economies — building roads, schools, and livelihoods in places where few other industries reach. Yet even as it sustains, traditional gold production scars landscapes, poisons rivers, and traps entire communities in the orbit of illegal operators who feed a global black market worth billions. Vast amounts of the world's extracted gold originate in unregulated mines linked to cartels and rogue governments — especially throughout Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Once refined, it flows into the same vaults as legitimate supply — indistinguishable yet morally polluted.

And to make matters worse, even those vaults are not immune to fraud. Investigations over the past decade have exposed tungsten-filled bars and sophisticated counterfeits that can pass visual and weight tests undetected — reminders that even "deliverable" gold is not always what it seems. So when people defend physical gold as the foundation of trust, they're actually defending one of the least transparent, most corrupt supply chains on Earth. To call that honest money is to mistake possession for proof.

Brian: Let's step back for a moment. Even if we accept that NatGold offers a cleaner, verifiable alternative — do you really think today's crypto or tokenization enthusiasts want to go backwards to storing and safeguarding physical gold?

Anthony: Does anyone really believe they want to do that? I'd argue the answer is a resounding no. One of the reasons Bitcoin achieved such prominence was because it moved beyond that very notion — the idea that value must be locked in vaults and guarded like treasure. Bitcoin's innovation was freeing money from physical custody. In doing so, its advocates also tried to remove intrinsic value from the equation, pointing to gold's environmental and social destruction as proof that "real" gold was obsolete.

That argument was fair — until now. Because NatGold solves that. We leave the gold right where it is — in Mother Nature's vault. The mountains stay standing. The rivers go undredged. The forests remain intact. And yet the monetary value of that gold — the value human civilization has trusted for thousands of years — is fully realized and made transferable through digital mining.

It's the natural monetary solution our era was destined to discover: one that leaves the planet healthy while unlocking gold's eternal value through technology. Once gold is modernized in this way, the debate changes. The Bitcoin promoters who threw rocks at gold for its environmental footprint now find themselves staring at a new form of gold — NatGold — and she's wearing a modern green dress that Bitcoin can never fit into.

The notion that Bitcoin can be "green" by running on renewable energy misses the point entirely. It's still misdirected energy — massive computational effort spent mining algorithms that produce nothing of tangible value. That same energy could power cities, produce clean water, or run industries that make the world better. Gold, by contrast, has always carried proven, physical value — nature's own reserve of permanence and trust — and NatGold delivers that value digitally, without the wasteful energy that fuels algorithmic mining. NatGold directs technology toward something real — capturing proven, intrinsic value while preserving the very world that value depends upon.

Brian: You've called NatGold an "evolved fiat money alternative species." What do you mean by that?

Anthony: Fiat money is faith-based — its value rests entirely on government decree. Gold and Bitcoin are both resistance species — they rebel against fiat, but neither adapts fully to the world we live in. NatGold represents a new species of money — adaptive yet immutable. It combines gold's intrinsic scarcity with blockchain's informational efficiency, producing a currency that's elastic enough for real-world use yet incapable of hidden inflation. It's a living evolution of sound money rather than a nostalgic return to it.

Brian: That sounds like what you've described elsewhere as "conscious value." Can you expand on that?

Anthony: Conscious value is recognizing that worth doesn't come from extraction or speculation but from verified existence. Gold already embodies permanence; blockchain embodies flow. When you merge those two naturally aligned systems, you create harmony between being and movement — value that simply is and can be exchanged transparently. NatGold doesn't force people to pick between past and future. It reconciles both in the present.

Brian: Critics might say it's too idealistic — that markets need tangible collateral. What's your answer?

Anthony: The collateral exists — it just doesn't have to be dug up to be real. Every NatGold Token is underpinned by certified geological resources. Independent engineers, lawyers, and compliance experts verify them before a single token is issued. That's harder science than the paper promises sitting in vaults. When you understand that existence itself is collateral, you stop confusing movement with proof.

Brian: For investors reading this, why should they care now?

Anthony: Because both the traditional and digital systems are reaching a breaking point. Gold's environmental and social license is collapsing. Bitcoin's energy footprint is unsustainable. The world is hungry for a store of value that's real, clean, and globally accessible. NatGold sits at that intersection — gold without destruction, blockchain without waste, proof without faith. It's not just an investment; it's a redefinition of value itself.

Brian: You've made a compelling case for NatGold as the next stage of monetary evolution. Any final thoughts?

Anthony: The world is ready for something that truly makes sense. We've tried every version of money — government fiat, mined metals, mined algorithms — and each has come with a cost we can no longer ignore. NatGold is the first time we can access gold's intrinsic value without harming the planet that gave it to us. It proves progress doesn't have to come at nature's expense.

As Sir Paul McCartney put it, "There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn't spoil the sky, or the rain or the land." That's exactly the point. Gold without destruction. Blockchain without waste. Proof without faith. Not about choosing a side — about finally choosing the better way.

Brian: For readers who want to dig deeper into the ideas behind NatGold and the collapse of the fiat system it was designed to transcend, Anthony's book High Alert: Reformation Unleashed explores the philosophical and economic roots of this global monetary transformation. You can download it for free here.

The MoneyQuake Ahead

My interview with Tony ended where the MoneyQuake 2025 story begins.

Two old systems — physical gold and digital crypto — are both hitting their limits.

Each is preparing the other's replacement.

And in that collision lies the biggest investment opportunity of this decade.

Because the world doesn't just need a new asset class…

It needs a new definition of value.

That's what NatGold represents — and what my recently completed White Paper #4 fully reveals.

In it, I show exactly how this digitally mined, resource-anchored currency fits into the seismic realignment of money that's already shaking the global order — and why investors who position now could be standing on the fault line of generational wealth.

Gold without destruction. Blockchain without waste. Proof without faith.

That's not a slogan.

It's the future.

Again, White Paper #4 is done, and you can access it right here:

Welcome to MoneyQuake 2026: Gold Beyond Belief: The Unthinkable Price Target That Will Reshape Global Wealth.

Get to the good, green grass first…

The Prophet of Profit,