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The Surprising Reason Why Gold Has Always Been Used As Currency
And it has little to do with its appearance
Few things evoke such a powerful image as gold. It has been used as currency and as a symbol of wealth and power for thousands of years. The association with wealth has made gold extraordinarily desirable and instantly recognizable. But have you ever stopped to wonder why gold is used as currency at all? Most people assume that it has to do with its appearance, but appearance has little to do with it.
The reason that gold is used as a placeholder for wealth has to do with its unique physical properties. Not everything is suitable to be used as coinage or currency. In fact, when you start digging through the periodic table, it becomes apparent that very few elements can do the job that gold does every day.
Gold has a handful of physical properties that make it the perfect medium for currency.
What Makes a Good Coin?
Coins were invented thousands of years ago, and it is not hard to see why. Imagine having to haul a carload of goods to the grocery store to try and haggle for your meal…
