Did you ever consider why gold has value? It's just shiny metal. Other than jewelry and some electronics uses, no one needs it. At one point it was useful to make coins (for fiat currencies) because it was rare, but now it's just valuable because "it always has been."
Gold has value because it’s useful, among other things. That base level of value is why people started making coins out of it in the first place. It’s properties as a physical metal make it easy to store, transport, and protect, all of which are good properties to have as a currency.
Gold is always in demand as a luxury item for jewelry and decoration. The fact that it's primarily wanted for luxury and not for practical purposes is actually in its favour - peoples wants are unlimited, whereas their needs are finite. And a metal that's needed for some practical purpose one day, might become obsolete the next.
Aside from that it's ideal for currency because it's fungible (all gold the same, so exchange is easy), portable (small amount is worth a lot, also easy to melt down into smaller lumps), durable (doesn't rust or rot).
It's a virtuous circle whereby its intrinsic physical properties and luxury status make it a good choice for money/currency, which then gives it a new dimension of value as that idea spreads.
Like other metals gold has intrinsic value and can be used in actual, physical things beyond just being shiny or representing an arbitrary unit of exchange.
For example, gold is non-corrosive and a good conductor.
People actually use gold, as it's optimal (or solely suited) for a number of electric and chemical tasks.
Also, it's pretty and used as a status symbol.
It has utility, which has been overblown in the market for a long time (like diamonds).
I'd wager the intrinsic value of gold has little to do with its valuation, since the vast majority of it is used for banking and jewelry. Contrast that with metal from the platinum group, like palladium, which are heavily use for things like catalytic filters.
From an industrial point of view, gold is just fancy copper.
Gold is useful for less tangible purpose because it's accepted, and it's accepted because it's useful. BTC is similar in that respect.
Why does a commodity like gold have the value it does? Its price outshines its industrial uses. The remaining values are that it doesn't corrode and it's shiny.
Gold is shiny, stable (chemically and nuclearly), heavy (harder to fake by coating a facsimile), and rare. It's not "useful" per se (outside niche applications), but it definitely has a certain intrinsic suitability as currency.
It is one of the very few metals that do not oxide in normal conditions, this makes :
Any metal very good electrical contact: just putting a single layer of gold over any metal will make the metal a fantastic electrical contact without the oxide layer that any metal will develop over time. This application alone is of great use in anything that plugs, just look around and you see gold in any electronic device.
You can make the best quality IR reflectors with it.
You can cover plastic with a very small layer of it and make mylar that in used in everything from refrigerators to accident blankets.
Gold (and platinum)is one of the the most used metals in any electronic, chemistry, biochemistry or physics laboratory as not being dissolved or attacked from most chemicals makes the extremely useful.
It is also great value because:
It is very dense.
It could be divided ad infinitum without (oxidation)damages.
It is easy to know it is gold and not something different.
It is beautiful.
It is very rare and appreciated, because of its aesthetic and its industrial properties.
Which makes it one of the best material for exchanging goods possible. It is also the preferred way to store wealth around the world when US of America does not threat with its weapons(guess what are China, Rusia, Iran or Brasil using to exchange goods between them as they have a military army on their on).
Gold reserves has been the first thing the US has sto... errr has taken from Ukraine in order to "protect" it. Let me tell you when the gold is coming back:never.
> Of all the minerals mined from the Earth, none is more useful than gold. Its usefulness is derived from a diversity of special properties. Gold conducts electricity, does not tarnish, is very easy to work, can be drawn into wire, can be hammered into thin sheets, alloys with many other metals, can be melted and cast into highly detailed shapes, has a wonderful color and a brilliant luster.
Gold is inherently useful as a tangible object with exploitable physical properties. Gold, for example, has good conductivity and is used to plate electrical connections. Gold is also useful for its rust-resistance.
Thus, on this basis, like all useable physical goods, gold has some inherent value as a commodity.
Gold is strictly an investment vehicle for all intents and purposes. The vast majority of its price is due to recognition as a store of value vs inherent utility.
It doesn't require a 'mission' to have value- the fact enough of society (still a small minority which actually invests or knows the price) recognizes that others recognize it has value allows it to fulfill exactly this function
Gold is ductile and a good conductor. Outside of it's shiny / jewelry uses it's actually a useful metal. Crypto only consumes energy as a product of it's existence.
Gold has a variety of industrial uses as well as aesthetic value. At minimum, it's a heavy physical object, and heavy objects also have a variety of uses.
Beyond that, the less rational reasons people value gold as if it had intrinsic value are at least deeply rooted in our history & culture.
The inherent "value" of it outside it's physical properties is as much of a human construct based on trust as the dollar.
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