...and every other metal with no utility for that matter. Precious metal, for the sake of being shiny, might have had some utility back in the day. The human population was smaller and the economic activities were limited. Today, in our technological advanced world, the act of digging up gold and then storing it somewhere (while we exchange its value on NASDAQ), is similar to buying a lamborghini and hauling it proudly with a donkey.
We have moved on. The reason cryptocurrencies are gaining so much momentum is because tokens represent value for given ideas. It might be services, hardware, software or anything else in between. A token represents a futures value for something that has utility. Issuing a token for gold is pointless since gold has no other utility other than in miniscule amounts in some electronics — which is also being substituted. Even as it is today, it is way overvalued due to mainly lack of alternative for storing value.
Gold historically attracted investors as a safe bet in case fiat currencies collapse. Even so, assuming there will be a massive crash, people will not be able to transact with gold. Even if it is exchanged much like other asset, few know the actual stock quantities and whether they will be getting the actual pieces of gold in return. Same problem exists with FIAT currencies. If everyone wished to cash out their FIAT currency no bank in the world has the notes in hand to satisfy the demand.
Cryptocurrencies are the future of value for this very reason. People are moving from gold to crypto because the world is governed digitally not physically. Precious metals will begin to become more and more obsolete as we move to smart materials that can replace traditional raw materials.
Precious metals are finite but so is every single thing on the planet than can be produced by alternative means. Trees might have had great usage but with the introduction of plastics and other synthetic materials products became cheaper and more abundant. Even if we have scarcity of trees, nobody will value them other than close fetish circles that like to romanticize on the idea of wood. We do much the same with fine art.
I adhere to ancap and libertarian ideas but I find the belief in Gold as store of value nonsensical. With every single person I talked that defend the value of gold their excuse is the same: Safety. Personally, I see nothing safe about holding a piece of metal in your home with no way to use it functionally. For anyone that owns slabs of gold in a safe, in the event of a catastrophe, I assume they will hold onto it until society reboots. No one will dare to transact with it due to the risks involved and the fact that no one will be able to place an actual value to it.
Scarcity is surely something that creates value. Nonetheless, long gone are the days where raw materials were limited. Nothing is as rare as it was in the past. We keep creating substitutes for just about everything and will continue to do so. Scarcity might have defined value due to our technological limitations but as the future unfolds the trend will become a relic of the past.
