I hear this dumb shit all the time. People aren't merely deciding gold is valuable. There are physical properties in the metal itself that it can do things other metals can't. It is backed by physics. Gold is necessary to build your computer. Can't do it (reasonably) without it. That's only one example.
Ok, so that's a motivation for people to choose to value it. You're actually onto something really big that even some economists don't get. When you combine both, which is accurate, you get Mengarian valuation. Very helpful way of looking at things.
Gold's usefulness in electronics was not even remotely the basis of its value before electronics existed, though. It was valuable because it was scarce and because of the psychological aspect (it's shiny).
It was rare and, therefore, desirable and it immediately became a tradable commodity for imports. Elites had gold rings that would symbolize their social class.
Unlike tulips and seashells, it STAYED valuable over the test of time for the reason I cited.
Okay, and limited supply cryptos are far rarer than gold is.
It was rare and, therefore, desirable
Kinda like bitcoin.
It was rare and, therefore, desirable and it immediately became a tradable commodity for imports.
My dog's turds are much rarer than gold, yet rarity doesnt give them any value.
Tiny amounts of gold are needed for electronics and that's only a recently discovered use. For most of history it had no real use other than "it's shiny and people like it." And even today that's still the main use.
It does have physical properties that make it useful though. Its more malleable than most metals for example. Other metals are shiny.
Ok, and what uses are those?
If gold were only valuable because of electronics:
It would only recently have become valuable
The demand for gold would very quickly be met by limited mining since very little of it is actually needed
The only other practical use it's put to is jewelry. Which is "merely people deciding gold is valuable." In theory it could be put to many more uses like guttering and water pipes but in practice it costs too much to extract to be used to that.
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