3 ms·

Gold was never a currency, it's a commodity.

• nradov 11y ago
  Is an electron a particle or a wave? From a trading standpoint gold sometimes acts like a currency and sometimes like a commodity. Does the distinction even matter?
  • dools 11y ago
    Various precious metals in the past have been used in coinage, and at times certain currency issuers have promised to exchange their currency for gold at a fixed rate, but at no time has gold been a currency. And yes the distinction matters -- goods do not buy goods. Goods buy money, money buys goods. Money, as a definition, should not be producable through the application of labour
    • dear 11y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard Origin "The gold specie standard arose from the widespread acceptance of gold as currency.[7] Various commodities have been used as money; typically, the one that loses the least value over time becomes the accepted form.[8] The use of gold as money began thousands of years ago in Asia Minor."
      • dools 11y ago
        The terminology is wrong in subtle bu important ways. Here's a great presentation on the origins of money and debt: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0zEbo8PIPSc http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0zEbo8PIPSc and here is the analysis of nominalism vs. Metalism from Randall Wray who is one of the key proponents of modern monetary theory http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/08/mmp-blog-12-commodity-money-coins.html http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2011/08/mmp-blog-12-commo...