That explains it. Good article. I enjoyed it.

Author here: I meant that with bitcoin, Satoshi created the new, or "next" iteration of a bearer asset, and that Satoshi's version is the best, better than what came before (gold). 

Put differently: "next-best" (newest best) instead of "next best" (second best)

I appreciate your pointing out how this might be unclear!

david_waugh

I read this article and it makes some good points. However, I was surprised that the author considers bitcoin as inferior to gold as a bearer asset. Maybe it's a typo. It's tought to tell based on the context.