> If so, then is a successful BTC economy just a different gold standard (and all its associated problems)?
The main problem with gold standards, is that governments don't like them, because it makes it really hard to fund wars and other expenditures. Eventually, this leads to gold confiscations [1], and the effective end of a gold standard. Bitcoin solves this by being resilient to confiscation, and also by having a value transfer mechanism built-in, so that you don't need to replace gold with paper receipts for the sake of convenience.
In essence, bitcoin has all the upsides of a gold standard, with none of the downsides.
The main problem with gold standards, is that governments don't like them, because it makes it really hard to fund wars and other expenditures. Eventually, this leads to gold confiscations [1], and the effective end of a gold standard. Bitcoin solves this by being resilient to confiscation, and also by having a value transfer mechanism built-in, so that you don't need to replace gold with paper receipts for the sake of convenience.
In essence, bitcoin has all the upsides of a gold standard, with none of the downsides.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102