What is gold?

What is gold?

If gold is simply chemically defined, it can be expressed by the element symbol Au. However, regardless of East and West, gold has been treated as a valuable metal and has functioned as money.

How did gold perform the function of money? First of all, scarcity and immutability are the biggest reasons. Mining gold requires great effort, and the amount is very limited. It is said that the total amount of gold that mankind has mined so far is about 166,500 tons. If this is calculated in volume, it can be expressed as a cube of about 21m in width, length, and height. Isn't it smaller than I thought? Gold is recognized for its value because it is so scarce.

Another reason is immutability. Gold does not produce rust. It attracts homeostasis and has no chemical deformation. Since it is soft as an additional function, it is easy to split, and even gold mined anywhere on Earth is guaranteed homogeneity, so it can have a perfect function to store value beyond time and space.

 

To tell you another story for a moment, the gold exchange system was maintained around the world until August 15, 1971. In other words, it was a time when the gold standard system of "one ounce of gold = $35" was maintained based on USD 35. In other words, it is the period during which the dollar was used as a real key currency as a gold exchange certificate. However, the U.S. printed a large amount of dollars regardless of gold to carry out the Vietnam War, and eventually unilaterally abolished the gold exchange system, leading to a surge in gold prices in the long run. In other words, it was an event that made us know that money and currency were different.

Currently, currency is being printed tremendously around the world. Quantitative easing policies have continued for a long time, which means a decline in the value of money, precisely the depreciation of the currency currently in use. The total amount of wealth, that is, the amount of gold, remains almost constant, but if the currency continues to be printed, the value of the currency naturally decreases.

Then, what will happen to the future of gold? Gold is a symbol of true wealth. Currency can lose its value at any time, but gold has absolute value. In other words, who would be advantageous if the two reincarnated in the present era and continued their wealth in their past lives, A, who converted all his assets into Sangpyeong Tongbo and buried them in the ground 300 years ago and converted them into gold? Needless to say, it's B.

Then, should we still buy gold and collect it now? First of all, gold is mentioned above, but it is a real property. That's why the state controls gold extremely. This is because gold has absolute value. The state must use the currency issued by the country to effectively control its people. For that reason, gold is controlled and taxes are paid when buying or selling. It is not easy to make meaningful profits from gold sales without rising gold prices to some extent.

This does not mean that gold investment is negative. Who would stop you from buying and collecting gold of absolute value? However, gold is not an open market to the general public. Gold investment is an investment tool for wealthy people who can steadily buy and collect a significant amount of gold in person, have the ability to keep it safe, and hold the purchased gold in the long term.