Gold is a hedge in wealth and asset management actually. So it's actually the tangible asset relied on during times of uncertainty.

Now why is it a hedge?
Ok if we know history that answer is simple.
I can't believe you would seriously ask "what?"

I will educate you though: It's use throughout history as an art medium. Use of it by high society. Royalty. Jewellery for masses. Archeology the academic field in constant discovery of how humans have always seen it as valuable. This is why it continues to be a safe asset. Humans value gold immensely.

Now philosophically one can argue: "That's all whithin the human system - gold is no different to LED in the reality of physics."

It's my ultimate view actually, because I don't adhere to materialism as value, yet I see it as THE SYSTEM. Assessing why it's the system though, we realize, that we are ALWAYS holding the human system above physics because the entire human system of civility is really all just ideas that we collectively agree upon.

So if ever gold becomes meaningless, we'll likely have much greater issues than just "what is gold used for". The greater issue would be that society has likely collapsed and "survival" the only thought in our minds and so the only "asset" would be food.

Which, evidently, IS the system in places of the world still. For instance in Africa, in some tribes. A man's cow(s) is their asset.

In Western society this is also evident. That's why Monsanto has the world's largest seed cache stored deep in a facility under snow. Because if 'the system' does collapse. Those seeds have immense value.