I have never own a gold coin or bar, jewellery is not gold ownership. However, should we have a another trigger Lehman moment, liquidity will be the issue with any form of paper or a harder to sell asset class such as properties of any kind.
RE or Crypto is having a greater performance? Slow and steady or sprint is more likely to measure between the 2 asset class. So under this condition I can make a case for physical gold ownership.
China has set a precedent for all things crypto and I am sure other major regulators are watching closely the threat of modern day gold to the concept of fial money. BTC has once again gone exponential which is a dangerous thing for bull chasers, almost always ends in tears, no different to any asset class or stock. The fear is always along the lines of the speculated Evergrande contagion effect.
If one believes the 2 products are in fact related by the concept of a safe haven unprintable, eventually gold will be dragged up. So the current debate is ROC and properties, equities and crypto outperform gold price. For those with much more appetite, the miners or explorers are where the action is in cycles between the various commodities.
Gold has been in a triangle formation or going nowhere for a year, ST or LT depending on perspective,
