Transferring physical gold can transfer ownership and custody in one step, but requires moving mass (work).
Transferring tokenized gold transfers ownership without transferring custody…this requires changing a ledger entry (information transformation, requires a trivial amount of work via electricity), but requires trust or force of law to enforce custodian owner relationships.
Transferring bitcoin can transfer ownership and custody in one step, requiring proof of work (significant information transformation via large electricity)…
Take home point? Only bitcoin can transfer custody without mass. This is enormously powerful.
