Gold’s “infinite mint” flaw raises questions for Bitcoin’s value

A US fusion startup, Marathon Fusion, says it has demonstrated a pathway to produce gold from mercury using nuclear transmutation—an idea that sounds like modern “alchemy” but hinges on real physics. According to the company, high-energy neutrons generated in a deuterium-tritium fusion reaction can irradiate mercury-198, triggering decay into stable gold-197. The claim has reignited the perennial debate over whether gold’s scarcity could be undermined by technology—and what that would mean for Bitcoin , often framed as “digital gold” due to its hard-capped 21 million coin supply.