If not this, what do you think a Bitcoin transfer looks like?
> There's nothing stopping you from doing the same thing with some gold
The custodian of the gold would be able to steal it from me at any time. I wouldn't actually be in possession of the gold, whereas I would be in possession of my Bitcoin keys.
Bitcoin only exists as entries in a trustless ledger. The trustless ledger of gold is physical possession of that gold -- that's the only way that you can verify possession (or spend freely) without a mutually trusted third party.
If I physically control gold, then I have some guarantees about that ownership. Someone can physically take it from me, but I can, at least, make that difficult.
If I own gold credits, then I must trust the holder of the physical gold, both to honor my credits and secure the gold.
If I own Bitcoin, it means I posses the private key that enables their spending. I have to trust the collective actions and incentives of the Bitcoin network, not a single party.
I think it's very clear that these are wildly different notions of ownership, and that they may be valued differently. Equating the transfer of gold credits to Bitcoins fails to account for these differences.
That's what bitcoin is.