Gold is extremely rare on Earth, because it is extremely rare in the universe - it comes from neutron star collisions. [1] To underline the scarcity on Earth, t

Gold is extremely rare on Earth, because it is extremely rare in the universe - it comes from neutron star collisions. [1] To underline the scarcity on Earth, there are thoughts that we are reaching 'peak gold.' [2] You can read here the lengths we go to to get at small seams of gold: http://gizmodo.com/terrifying-facts-about-the-worlds-deepest-gold-mine-1484301368 http://gizmodo.com/terrifying-facts-about-the-worlds-deepest... Asteroid mining may be a check on this. Most of the gold in the world is used for jewelery approx 68-78% depending on the estimate. It does have its uses as an industrial metal, but if there wasn't gold tomorrow, the sun would still rise. In the US, we don't have the same cultural relationship with gold that exists in India, China and elsewhere, where most of the demand is. Keynes called gold a 'barbarous relic,' and I think that's been adopted to some degree in our culture. Central banks hold many currencies, and in some cases baskets of currency. Gold is another that can't be printed, and has a multi-thousand year track record (what currency can claim that?). More immediately, if I was in the shoes of a central banker, I would be looking to participate in the future gold-backed currency markets. Gaddhafi tried to start a gold-backed Dinar as a pan-African currency and to settle oil trades that would have competed with the petrodollar system. A bayonet and several bullets put these plans on hold. There has been talk of Russia, the top oil producer [3][4], and China moving to gold backed currencies [4]. I have exposure to gold mining stocks. For me, I'm thinking about the reasons above. I'm also thinking about the next financial crisis with the backdrop of rates barely above 0%, a massively leveraged derivatives market that will eventually be looking for real assets at the end of all of the complex chained structures, a massive debt overhang, and looking at what Moody's thinks about our pension system, Social Security, and Medicare [5]. Trying to stay hedged. [1] https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2013-19 https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2013-19 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_gold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_gold [3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-20/russia-overtakes-saudi-arabia-as-world-s-largest-crude-producer https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-20/russia-ov... [4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2016/05/05/china-is-laying-the-foundation-for-the-next-world-gold-standard-system/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2016/05/05/china-is... (note: commentary piece) [5] https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-US-government-pension-shortfall-overshadowed-by-Social-Security-Medicare--PR_346878 https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-US-government-pension...