There's a fundamental difference between storing value and investment. You're right that it's good to invest in productive assets. That said, there is still a

There's a fundamental difference between storing value and investment. You're right that it's good to invest in productive assets. That said, there is still a need to store and represent value, and to be able to transfer it, divide it, etc. If you look up the history of money, it actually shows that using something with tangible value (e.g. salt) is a bad idea for multiple reasons. This is why the U.S. dollar is not backed by oil, corn, salt, shares of Berkshire Hathaway, etc. This is what made gold historically a good money as well, as it historically had more use as a status symbol/symbol of wealth than actual industrial uses (this may not hold for the future).