HN Explorer

7 comments

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tmcnicol
This seems like a big callout
scantis
"It does not generate cash flow (like real estate) or dividends (like equities), cannot be used productively (like commodities) or provide social benefits (like gold)."

What are the social benefits that gold provides?

tmcnicol
Does it refer to the history of gold standards? I don't understand either.
pestatije
I think they talking about jewellery and the like
senttoschool
Civilizations throughout history have equated gold as beautiful.

Gold is also used for real world applications.

scantis
Sure gold is definitely a commodity. It is a precious metals and considered beautiful. Jewelry could be made from anything and is also a commodity. Those aren't socially beneficial objects, such as a public library, public wash rooms, crisis centers or soup kitchens.

What would we socially gain from a mountain of gold in the middle of a city? Does this even have a social benefit?

senttoschool
It has more benefit than Bitcoin. Again, gold is used in real world applications.