You’re right. Only if we ignore depreciation of capital goods are the two examples equivalent. But I was trying to convey the fact that money is just a replace

You’re right. Only if we ignore depreciation of capital goods are the two examples equivalent. But I was trying to convey the fact that money is just a replacement for physical goods, such that if the lender doesn’t purchase something with the lent funds, the loan would be meaningless. And as soon as the lender spends the lent funds, there’s a risk that it won’t be able to recover this cost. In other words, riskless credit makes no sense, since the presence of risk is why there’s a potential return for the lender in the first place.