This is going to be a huge question coming up here soon.
So, in the near future, fiat monetary systems are breaking down, and many people talk about going back to gold as currency. All the old gold bugs think that this is a no brainer. All the young crypto heads think, why would anyone trust gold? Two very different groups. Two very different ways of thinking.
In the future, we are going to see many groups, both good and evil, try to push the direction of the new money. And gold will be one of the big contenders. Actually, not gold, but "gold-backed" whatevers.
We are going to finally answer, is gold money?
These are the attributes of money:
or so they say. Future economists will look back on this list and say, but what about X,Y & Z?
Where, everyone in the future considers X,Y & Z to be more important than all the rest.
And the most important aspect of this list, the meta of it is: How big is your world?
When you are dealing with local economies and local people, then portable has one meaning.
When you are dealing with people around the world, buying and selling, then portable has another meaning.
When you are dealing with people flying around in space, selling space junk, then portable has a really, really different meaning.
Store of Value is also being redefined. As technology and world views change.
This question comes down to what is your world? If it is Mad Max, and your only bank is your pocket, and the only people you deal are people you journeyed to meet, than gold could be money.
If you world is the digital frontier, and your friends are mostly online, and you purchase stuff from a website, then gold is not a form of money you can use.
Further, lets say you took the currently stated amount of gold (although i do believe that number is way low) in vaults, than if we divide that up between 8 billion people, then everyone gets less than an ounce of gold.
One ounce is a good sized coin. ⅒ of an ounce is getting small. 50 grams is a tiny square off of a sheet of gold. Where i am going with this is that most transactions would be in pieces of gold foil. In fact, we couldn't properly make change with gold. We would probably have a plastic disk the size of a penny, with a flake of gold embedded in it. And that would be like we think of as a $20 bill.
So, gold fails many of the requirements of a money for a world wide, internet trading, economy.
As long as we don't crash back to a pre-industrial society, gold is actually a very poor money.
The rots-children own most of the gold. There are several times the amount of gold in vaults than the stated amount of gold in vaults. And most of it is controlled by the bad guys. The evil people. And this is not what we want for a future money. We already have a problem with them controlling the central banks. We do not want to fall into the trap of just changing the name on our chains.
There are several ways whereby a lot more gold could come onto the market. There are all kinds of places in South America where if gold was worth more, people would be carving up entire mountains to get it. Or, if the rumors of gold in the Grand Canyon are true. Or, if we really start going to space and find those miles long strands of gold spewed out from the sun. All of these, any one of these, can massively change the supply of gold, making it far less valuable overnight.
Artificial gold is everywhere. From cheap gold plated coins from China to Gold bars, in world renown vaults, with tungsten rods inside them. It is hard for the people that work with gold to be 100% sure that the gold they are buying/selling is gold. What will we do in the stores, when you pull out a pocket of gold coins/tokens, who will verify that they are legit? Who will stop counterfeiters?
Most of the newest generations in the 1st world (as opposed the 3rd world, were they have all seen bank and monetary collapses) doesn't even know what gold is. The "gold is a barbarous relic" is what they group up with. There is no love of gold in the young generations. Most of the gold bugs are old men. So, either the young have to be trained to value gold, or the old are going to have to be trained to use crypto.
Why do we mow down mountains, tear up and destroy the environment, crush tons of rock to get a few ounces of gold, that will live the rest of its life in a vault where few will ever see? No, really. Why do we put in so much work for a metal that is only said to be precious. It is never actually used. It just sits there. What a waste of resources.
Gold will only be money if we go back in technology level where we barely travel, and the internet is gone. It could happen, but after people have had a taste of the internet, i feel it will quickly be rebuilt if something happens to it. And the future internet will probably be even better / stronger / more robust.
So, even now gold is not real money.
The only thing it is actually being used for is a bait and switch operation. Where the rots-children banks will say "This new currency is backed by gold", where, like The US gold reserves in Ft. Knox haven't been seen or counted in years. They will hold onto the gold, and you accept the new pieces of paper, or plastic, or bits, and you never actually see the gold.
Gold is no longer a good backing for money.
And since we have a much better alternative in crypto currencies, then gold is, indeed a barbarous relic.
