> Why do countries bother to hold gold? Nowadays, a chief reason is "because the others do, too" ;) it is also a brilliant instrument to stabilize/tweak curr

> Why do countries bother to hold gold? Nowadays, a chief reason is "because the others do, too" ;) it is also a brilliant instrument to stabilize/tweak currency fluctuations without buying/selling "too much" of another country's currency/debt or more generally, any third party's nominal promises/future obligations. It may prove exceptionally useful in future defence of a given currency's (global) purchasing power. Gold is the only asset that can accept any currency valuation (in both directions) without some broad group or other of real people, producers or consumers, complaining loudly (other than a tiny group of hobbyist speculators) while also showing a multi-millenium track record of durability, also in value, on a planetary scale and immunity to EMP or endless forks or Nixons. It need not perform any specific role 99% of the time, it need not even "perform" nominally at all, on the country scale (CB scale / oil wealth scale / giant old-family-wealth scale) it just needs to sit, tight and guarded, through changing times and the rare geopolitical/monetary transition or other.