This brings us back to the original "point" of precious metals. They are small enough and valuable enough to hold physically. You don't need to buy a gold ETF

This brings us back to the original "point" of precious metals. They are small enough and valuable enough to hold physically. You don't need to buy a gold ETF, you can buy actual gold. And this is not just in case of a "black swan" event, it is a counter to the very high rates of inflation we're seeing. You're right that ETFs have counter party risk, holding physical gold or platinum has little risk. (You can hold it in a safe deposit box, or in a very small cardboard box well hidden in your house and have pretty good surety that no thief will ever find it. Even $100,000 in platinum is very compact.)