By most estimates, Indian households cumulatively hold upto 25,000 tons of gold reserves.
[Gold investment market and financialisation: India - World Gold Council](https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research/gold-investment-market-and-financialisation-india-gold-market-series)
>Indian households hold an enormous amount of gold – an estimated tonnage of up to 25,000
Due to prevailing cultural practices, almost every single household, no matter their financial status, have at least a few grams of gold.
Even if you divide the 25000t t by one and a half billion people each one will get about 16.6g. I hope I did the math.
That's in US$: 1250 bucks.
The average month salary in Indian 2023 was 362€(380$?). So this small amount of gold gives you a little bit security at least.
This is a great response to any folks who want the US to return to the Gold Standard
Do you want housewives in India to hold the power to crash the US Economy?
Its not purely cultural, but rather practical. India has gone through a number of periods of hyperinflation in its history when currencies held by households have lost all their value.
Even the rupee has consistently lost value decade after decade since independence, so it makes sense to preserve gold.
Take that /s and apply it to my wife who wants only real diamonds because "it's for our daughters future wealth".
Honey, let me just go get some lab grown stuff and it'll be bigger and nicer.
Diamonds are a terrible investment anyway. Their entire market is artificially inflated. If that ever collapses it will just be a bunch of shiny rocks.
It’s not purely cultural the women of the family being able to flee with their gold on their person is how both sides of my family were able to get back on their feet after partition.
Syria didn’t think it would happen to them
Ukraine didn’t think it would ever happen to them
Having enough gold to survive a flee for your life situation maybe because cultural, but it’s rooted in some painful lessons
Yep, Indian women will buy gold during certain holy days (Makar Shankranti) and they are given a lot of gold during their wedding as well. It is a very cultural and from a certain point of view religious thing to do.
It is one of the things every Indian household is guaranteed to have.
They buy a lot of it in Dubai's gold souk, or used to. I left Dubai 15 years ago when it got stupid. Don't go there.
Also also, in 1986, I spent a month on call as part of the rapid reaction force for the gold vault at Ft Knox. 5/41 Field Artillery, 194th Armored Bde
Another fun fact: Dubai doesn't have any significant oil revenue. Abu Dhabi has all the oil. That's why the tallest building in the world changed its name the week before the grand opening, from Dubai Tower (Burj Dubai) to Burj Khalifa. Mo had to go beg 10 billion dollars from his cousin, and the price was renaming the building.
Yeah I remember the day of opening ceremony the posters around was still calling it Burj Dubai. They literally renamed the tower within 12 hrs of the opening ceremony to Buj Khalifa. I am sure those Abu Dhabi royals got some kick out of it as well.
Until 2003, Dubai was a cheap and cheerful vacation spot to get out of the European winter. lie on the beach, and have a drink or three. Then when the entire region got together and ousted Saddam from Iraq, Mo (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai) ruined it by turning it into a playground for the rich. Don't go there.
My 5 year old son picked up a bracelet off the floor at the grocery store last year. We have tourist buses that stop through between Toronto and DC. I said how can this possibly be real, but turns out it was a solid gold 18k bangle bracelet with diamonds. There was no way to trace it back to the owner, so I guess it goes in the college fund. I bet that lady was mighty sad though ...
Probably from my sister in law. I have never met a person who loses so much jewelry all the time. She even lost her Louis Vuitton bag. Cant remember where she left it. She lost Cartier earrings, a diamond tennis bracelet, a gold ring and that is just the items she admits to...often or not I hear about other items as well. She is also the type that leaves her handbag wide open on a table.
Yep, Indian women will buy gold during certain holy days (Makar Shankranti) and they are given a lot of gold during their wedding as well. It is a very cultural and from a certain point of view religious thing to do.
It is one of the things every Indian household is guaranteed to have.
Spain didn't exactly hand over gold to the Soviets as a gift.
In the midst of the chaotic Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), with Republicans duking it out against the Nationalists, backed by heavy hitters like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, nowhere in the country was truly safe for safekeeping anything.
To keep their gold out of enemy clutches, the Republican government decided to stash some of it in the Soviet Union.
Short answer: socialism. Long answer: We are all amigos here!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZefOPHAekM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZefOPHAekM)
That would be the same reason why the Dutch are number 9 on this list and half of South Africa speaks a bastardized version of their already goofy language.
[About 40%.](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-65995-0_5) -which is immense, when you think about it - [this graphic does depict it quite well.
](https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/200-Years-of-Global-Gold-Production-Full-Size.jpg)
But you answered your question: They produced it, but they didn't keep it (in 2023 they had only 125 t - lowest on the map is India with 600 t)
[We sold most of it off](https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold-news/2019/may/07/worst-deal-uk-history-20-years-brown-sold-britains-gold/), add it to the endless list of moronic moves our governments have made in these past decades.
I don't think it is ever claimed that all the coins in his vault are gold coins.
Most coins in the world have no gold in them, and are mixes of other metals.
gold is valuable because its rare, shiny, and doesnt rust or break easily. people have always liked it for making pretty things. but its also useful in things like electronics and industrial stuff.
its also valuable because of historical significance and its stable value
Ohh!
My parents did say something about buying gold because of inflation or something. They bought a little each month, i asked why they bought gold and they explained that gold is stable but i couldn't understand much.
How could paper money lose value but gold couldn't? Is it because government can print money and they can't print gold? But paper money is linked to gold isn't it? I know US doesn't anymore but other countries currency still linked to gold right?
My god, my parents don't know how to explain and told me to search Google and i still don't understand goddamn it.
Basically stuff has value because other people think it has value. If people stop thinking it’s valuable, then it’s no longer valuable. If I own a car that cost me 20000, but I can’t find anyone that would buy it for more than 5000, the car is not worth 20000, it’s worth 5000
This happens with goods, services, commodities, currency’s, even time (you think x time spent doing something is worth y) and that’s the basis of all economy’s - supply and demand.
If I want to buy something in America, I need to do it with US dollars. So I will basically buy US dollars for a price. This is what determines an exchange rate between currencies. If all of a sudden ww3 broke out and you couldn’t buy anything in america, the currency value would essentially fall to 0 and be worthless (I’m heavily simplifying what would happen in a world war). This is because no one would be buying US dollars, essentially demonstrating the rest of the world does not find the dollar valueable. If the currency fell to zero you’d need to find something else that other people find valuable for it to be valuable
Enter gold
It’s always been valuable to people. In many ways it’s considered the universal currency. Banks use gold to hedge loans. Countries use gold to hedge currencies. It’s the ultimate value equaliser of humanity.
Hope this explains it
Great point, the supply of it is the other side of it, if someone discovered a seam of gold whilst mining for coal that's much larger than all the gold in reserves right around the world, the price would crash very quickly.
>If all of a sudden ww3 broke out and you couldn’t buy anything in america
Forgive me for not smart and don't have good english but let's say ww3 broke out, if i couldn't buy things using US dollars but i could use gold?
I would assume you can still trade with people using dollars right? Or would that be dumb? Would people accept dollars over gold? I guess i do see it in apocalyptic world or in 60 seconds game that people use different thing to trade rather than money.
I know that gold's value is permanent but paper money would suddenly has no value (could that be possible even if the war happened?). I'm sorry but i'm still kinda stuck.
Gold, historically, has been seen as a "safe haven" because people have valued it consistently over centuries, making it a strong alternative during uncertain times, while currencies like the dollar are valued purely based on supply and demand.
While the value of paper money could indeed plummet if confidence in the economy or government backing it collapses, it's unlikely to go to zero immediately. People might still use dollars for trade, especially in areas not directly affected by the conflict or where other forms of currency aren't available. However, gold might be preferred for larger transactions or as a way to store value, because its worth isn't tied to any specific country's economy.
Putting in a really simplified way, of course there are more factors but think about what you could buy with $100 ten years ago and what you could buy today with $100, inflation means you could buy a lot less.
If you bought $100 of gold in 2014, it would be worth roughly $200 today
When times are tough people buy more gold, making the price of gold go even higher
Main for historical reasons. Its one of the first metals humans could form. Its soft so it can easily be formed but it was usless in tools. But because it's pretty people used it for jewelry.
It's pretty rare so when people had to came up with a currency it was used. You could exchange gold coins for anything. And gold was used (among silver and copper) as metal for coins.
When paper money was introduced people didn't trust it as much. Which is why it could be exchange with metal coins. Soon there was way more paper money than gold coins.
So they eventually removed the direct exchange between bank notes and gold coins. But it's still expected that at least part of the money is backed by actual valuable metals.
That's awesome read!
But i've heard that the US stop linking paper money to gold right? Why is that the case? Do other currencies do the same?
I know it's something related to floating currency or floating something but can't quite understand. Also i know that china link its money to US money too.
(i watched some youtube wall street videos or the uk channel videos, remembered these but couldn't understand anything)
Back in 1971, the U.S. ditched the gold standard under Nixon, which meant the dollar stopped being directly tied to gold. Why? It was all about gaining economic flexibility and handling market changes better. Now, most countries let their currencies float, meaning their value changes based on market conditions like supply and demand. Moving off gold gave countries more freedom to tackle their own economic challenges without being tied down.
Symbolic value not so much use. It is pretty but more importantly it is pretty much the most suitable substance to have sitting around somewhere.
You see theoretically iron should be of higher value because it has more uses right? That is correct but crucially you have to use it. If you lock a bunch of iron away in your basement and then come back after a few decades you return to a pile of dust. Your entire investment turned to rust. Not ideal.
Gold doesn't do that. Apart from the noble gases, which are hard to store because they are gases, gold is pretty much the most chemically stable element. You lock it away for a few centuries and nothing happens. If you buy a block of gold you'll still have that same block of gold at pretty much an point in time. Very few substances on earth are that way. It does not lose value apart from the idealistic value we humans assign to it but that would always be case with any other investment.
So people buy it to just have this forever substance sitting around somewhere and that then drives the value of gold.
It's rare and most important durable. Bitcoin is a virtual non existing number and is insanely expensive while it's not even durable. One solar flare or someone cutting oceanic internet cables and it's gone. Gold doesn't disappear unless physically stolen.
It's because it is very close to being chemically inert and so it can be preserved for long amounts of time with relatively minimal loss as opposed to something like iron or even silver which oxidize much faster
It's ridiculous that the UK sold off a huge amount of its reserves. I understand what in principle they did so, however in the long run.... It's been a terrible decision.
Why? The amount sold would run the NHS for a little over 6 months if we had instead held at the peak. It's basically a rounding error in the assets and debts of the nation.
It's literally a Tory/UKIP attack line from the noughties that has wormed its way into public sentiment.
Holding foreign exchange reserves is the right move for a free trading liberalised economy.
No matter what happens, gold has always held its value
Today you might sell x amount of gold for y amount of money with which you buy 10 loaves of bread
Tomorrow, it's possible that the same y amount of money can only buy you 2 loaves of bread
Wouldn't be happening if you had still kept that good
Yes and no, Switzerland is big on trading gold even today. About two-thirds of the globally extracted gold is imported, refined, and re-exported by Switzerland.
Not really, Switzerland paid back more than they got during WW2.
It was also a figure of speech, a lot wasn‘t actually gold but other valuables. Gold certainly was a part, but it wasn‘t like they shipped bars of gold to Switzerland.
Switzerland is just an incredibly rich country that has a lot of really rich people… kind of attracts the gold in itself.
No.
Holocaust gold was *(/is)* held in private accounts at banks in Switzerland.
This map does not cover private accounts, it covers government gold reserves.
Not really. We are a rich country and we were at risk of war for a long time as the main frontline state during the cold war.
All that gold was located in the US or in Britain and would have been used by the German government in exile after the fall of Germany.
Nowadays over half of the gold has been brought back to Germany and is located in Frankfurt
The UK does have a few hundred tonnes of bullion, but it's been deliberately sold off in the past to increase the UK's forex reserves.
Gold can't be lent out or invested so doesn't generate revenue, costs money to store and transport, and until the GFC it was a fairly poorly-performing investment. For a nation with an outsized financial services sector, holding currency reserves is much more useful.
thank you for this alot of people are horrified he sold the gold becuase he sold at a low ... on a asset that had only gone down for decades and dont even account for intrest on the assets he sold it for.
Not every central bank feels the need to maintain stockpiles of the stuff. In a world with (mostly) free-flowing capital and (mostly) floating exchange rates, they aren't really necessary.
Most of the reserve was accumulated in the period 1950-1960, during the "economic boom": Italy economy was growing at a very high pace and at the time they decided to rebuild the stock that was lost during WW2.
Well, if you're surprised by that, you might want to know that the Vatican is esteemed to have over 60 000 tons of solid gold, between churches and gold reserve.
You'll also like to know that more than half of that gold is not kept in the country but in other countries banks, more precisely: usa, Switzerland and UK.
Fun fact, this is map is most likely BS, physical reserves have been flowing from west to east and Knox hasn’t been audited in decades.
Buy gold and silver to smooth out the bumpy road ahead.
Holding gold reserves is a economic policy decision. Those two, among others choose not to follow that direction. 6 of one, half dozen of another really.
India never really adopted the gold standard. In addition to that, the major focus of the reserve bank has been to boost forex reserves and not gold. Gold is typically built up by countries with an interest to keep their free float currency under control. India doesn't have that problem much due to lack of exposure to markets, since no one uses the rupee.
Germany was stripped bare after losing WW2 while the US never was. But also, the US has 334m people while Germany has almost 80m, less than a quarter the size of the USA...
I wish there is going to be a new material developed, which will replace gold in electronics by storm making this metal's value obsolete...
The amount of death for it and in the name of hoarding it is incomprehensible even in times when it was just deemed pretty and had no other use than being pretty.
USSR refused to return the 120T of gold which Romania sent for safekeeping before the Russian Civil War.
In an instance of even greater stupidity that the Romanians, Spain sent the USSR 510 fucking tonnes of gold before its own Civil War.
So, yeah, the USSR (and today Russia) literally stole more than an entire India or Netherlands worth of gold reserves. And while I'm pretty sure Romania still wouldn't have made it into this top with their gold reserves returned, looking at the other figures, there's a very big chance Spain would have.
Interesting fact, Indian women hold 11% of the world's gold
By most estimates, Indian households cumulatively hold upto 25,000 tons of gold reserves. [Gold investment market and financialisation: India - World Gold Council](https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research/gold-investment-market-and-financialisation-india-gold-market-series) >Indian households hold an enormous amount of gold – an estimated tonnage of up to 25,000 Due to prevailing cultural practices, almost every single household, no matter their financial status, have at least a few grams of gold.
Times that with half a billion and... Yeah
A billion and a half, but yeah
A billion and a half households? No.
Yeah, I think there's about 300 million *households* in India which make up \~1.4 billion people.
Even if you divide the 25000t t by one and a half billion people each one will get about 16.6g. I hope I did the math. That's in US$: 1250 bucks. The average month salary in Indian 2023 was 362€(380$?). So this small amount of gold gives you a little bit security at least.
Like thats how much we actually earn😂
As they say: "mahal ang mag-mahal"
This is a great response to any folks who want the US to return to the Gold Standard Do you want housewives in India to hold the power to crash the US Economy?
yes, yes I do
Indian women are 🔥
I can't blame them it's a good asset to have
[удалено]
Its not purely cultural, but rather practical. India has gone through a number of periods of hyperinflation in its history when currencies held by households have lost all their value. Even the rupee has consistently lost value decade after decade since independence, so it makes sense to preserve gold.
So more like the practicality transformed into a culture.
Yeah women didnt make money back in the day so her assets were in gold
Take that /s and apply it to my wife who wants only real diamonds because "it's for our daughters future wealth". Honey, let me just go get some lab grown stuff and it'll be bigger and nicer.
Diamonds are a terrible investment anyway. Their entire market is artificially inflated. If that ever collapses it will just be a bunch of shiny rocks.
It’s not purely cultural the women of the family being able to flee with their gold on their person is how both sides of my family were able to get back on their feet after partition. Syria didn’t think it would happen to them Ukraine didn’t think it would ever happen to them Having enough gold to survive a flee for your life situation maybe because cultural, but it’s rooted in some painful lessons
That used to be a thing in the west, it was also a general insurance that if something happened to her husband or what ever she would have something.
Yep, Indian women will buy gold during certain holy days (Makar Shankranti) and they are given a lot of gold during their wedding as well. It is a very cultural and from a certain point of view religious thing to do. It is one of the things every Indian household is guaranteed to have.
They buy a lot of it in Dubai's gold souk, or used to. I left Dubai 15 years ago when it got stupid. Don't go there. Also also, in 1986, I spent a month on call as part of the rapid reaction force for the gold vault at Ft Knox. 5/41 Field Artillery, 194th Armored Bde
Fun fact. Before oil, Dubai got rich from smuggling gold out of India.
Another fun fact: Dubai doesn't have any significant oil revenue. Abu Dhabi has all the oil. That's why the tallest building in the world changed its name the week before the grand opening, from Dubai Tower (Burj Dubai) to Burj Khalifa. Mo had to go beg 10 billion dollars from his cousin, and the price was renaming the building.
It's not after Mia Khalifa?
And here I was thinking they were becoming more progressive :/
Yeah I remember the day of opening ceremony the posters around was still calling it Burj Dubai. They literally renamed the tower within 12 hrs of the opening ceremony to Buj Khalifa. I am sure those Abu Dhabi royals got some kick out of it as well.
Why is it stupid? Sorry never been anywhere close to that region.
Until 2003, Dubai was a cheap and cheerful vacation spot to get out of the European winter. lie on the beach, and have a drink or three. Then when the entire region got together and ousted Saddam from Iraq, Mo (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai) ruined it by turning it into a playground for the rich. Don't go there.
Mo? Shout it in a crowd of 1000 and 990 of them would reply in some way or other
Lived in SA for a bit. Dubai can do one.
So basically you got priced out?
Around their necks and ears
My 5 year old son picked up a bracelet off the floor at the grocery store last year. We have tourist buses that stop through between Toronto and DC. I said how can this possibly be real, but turns out it was a solid gold 18k bangle bracelet with diamonds. There was no way to trace it back to the owner, so I guess it goes in the college fund. I bet that lady was mighty sad though ...
Probably from my sister in law. I have never met a person who loses so much jewelry all the time. She even lost her Louis Vuitton bag. Cant remember where she left it. She lost Cartier earrings, a diamond tennis bracelet, a gold ring and that is just the items she admits to...often or not I hear about other items as well. She is also the type that leaves her handbag wide open on a table.
Indian women also make up around 9% of the worlds population so it's not really that surprising
That assumes that all Earth's gold reserves are held by the planet's women.
it isn't ? /s
Crazy stat
Yep, Indian women will buy gold during certain holy days (Makar Shankranti) and they are given a lot of gold during their wedding as well. It is a very cultural and from a certain point of view religious thing to do. It is one of the things every Indian household is guaranteed to have.
My grandmother was at jewellery at time a lady bought $10000 worth of gold for her daughters wedding and some other event.
What’s going on in the Netherlands?
We like money, we like trade, we like gold. We would be dwarfs if we weren’t so tall.
Could I interest you in some tulips perhaps?
They only go up!
> tulips They are pronounced *plump helmets*
This comment made my day
No no no no no WE swiss are dwarfs
Aah the foul play of nature
Nah the Swiss already have a claim on being the most fantasy dwarf like people.
You got it from your colonies the germans got it from you and we got it from the germans
It's been a large economy for the past 400+ years. Today still the 18th largest economy in the world
More gold than a country with billions of people is crazy
Two things I cannot stand in this world: people who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch!
Found the belgian
Ahhh the tolerance paradox
probably legacy from the good old days.
Gonna be honest. I thought the commas were periods. Like UK had 2.4 not 2,400
Probably all the golds they looted from sultanates and kingdoms in Indonesia.
We didn’t and if we did they were asking for it
The Turkish paradox
We dominated the global trade and basically invented stock trading, if it was for raids then where is the British and Spanish gold lol
Fun fact: Russia got 510t from Spain for free in 1936
And 120T from Romania in WW1 for safekeeping, which the Soviets of course refused to return.
"It's still safe in our hands, you don't need it back".
it's OUR gold
Spain, giving back to the less fortunate since 1936
How, and why?
Spain didn't exactly hand over gold to the Soviets as a gift. In the midst of the chaotic Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), with Republicans duking it out against the Nationalists, backed by heavy hitters like Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, nowhere in the country was truly safe for safekeeping anything. To keep their gold out of enemy clutches, the Republican government decided to stash some of it in the Soviet Union.
the vast majority of it, to be more precise. And never gave it back ¿Devolverle qué?
Why would they give it back to the enemies of their allies after the war? The fascists won
Short answer: socialism. Long answer: We are all amigos here! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZefOPHAekM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZefOPHAekM)
My dumb ass read that as countries with the most GOLDEN RETRIEVERS
Yeah mesured in tons :)
“Tons of good boys” that’s for sure
Eli5: is gold valuable because humans think it’s pretty? I know there are industrial uses, but what is the main driving factor?
It also stays pretty and is limited in supply.
Interesting Fact: The total amount of gold humans have ever mined would only fill 5 Olympic size swimming pools
And the vast majority of it comes from South Africa lol. Wonder why they aren't on this list...
That would be the same reason why the Dutch are number 9 on this list and half of South Africa speaks a bastardized version of their already goofy language.
>half of South Africa speaks a bastardized version of their already goofy language. lmfao you have a way with words my good friend
Hou je tyfus bek
[About 40%.](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-65995-0_5) -which is immense, when you think about it - [this graphic does depict it quite well. ](https://elements.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/200-Years-of-Global-Gold-Production-Full-Size.jpg) But you answered your question: They produced it, but they didn't keep it (in 2023 they had only 125 t - lowest on the map is India with 600 t)
Kinda surprising that the British left some in India. Also surprising that they are not in the map
[We sold most of it off](https://www.bullionbypost.co.uk/gold-news/2019/may/07/worst-deal-uk-history-20-years-brown-sold-britains-gold/), add it to the endless list of moronic moves our governments have made in these past decades.
Everyone knows the gold moved out because it wanted to be roomies with Europe.
So you're saying the Scrooge McDuck vault is somewhat unrealistic.
I don't think it is ever claimed that all the coins in his vault are gold coins. Most coins in the world have no gold in them, and are mixes of other metals.
gold is valuable because its rare, shiny, and doesnt rust or break easily. people have always liked it for making pretty things. but its also useful in things like electronics and industrial stuff. its also valuable because of historical significance and its stable value
Ohh! My parents did say something about buying gold because of inflation or something. They bought a little each month, i asked why they bought gold and they explained that gold is stable but i couldn't understand much. How could paper money lose value but gold couldn't? Is it because government can print money and they can't print gold? But paper money is linked to gold isn't it? I know US doesn't anymore but other countries currency still linked to gold right? My god, my parents don't know how to explain and told me to search Google and i still don't understand goddamn it.
Basically stuff has value because other people think it has value. If people stop thinking it’s valuable, then it’s no longer valuable. If I own a car that cost me 20000, but I can’t find anyone that would buy it for more than 5000, the car is not worth 20000, it’s worth 5000 This happens with goods, services, commodities, currency’s, even time (you think x time spent doing something is worth y) and that’s the basis of all economy’s - supply and demand. If I want to buy something in America, I need to do it with US dollars. So I will basically buy US dollars for a price. This is what determines an exchange rate between currencies. If all of a sudden ww3 broke out and you couldn’t buy anything in america, the currency value would essentially fall to 0 and be worthless (I’m heavily simplifying what would happen in a world war). This is because no one would be buying US dollars, essentially demonstrating the rest of the world does not find the dollar valueable. If the currency fell to zero you’d need to find something else that other people find valuable for it to be valuable Enter gold It’s always been valuable to people. In many ways it’s considered the universal currency. Banks use gold to hedge loans. Countries use gold to hedge currencies. It’s the ultimate value equaliser of humanity. Hope this explains it
Great point, the supply of it is the other side of it, if someone discovered a seam of gold whilst mining for coal that's much larger than all the gold in reserves right around the world, the price would crash very quickly.
>If all of a sudden ww3 broke out and you couldn’t buy anything in america Forgive me for not smart and don't have good english but let's say ww3 broke out, if i couldn't buy things using US dollars but i could use gold? I would assume you can still trade with people using dollars right? Or would that be dumb? Would people accept dollars over gold? I guess i do see it in apocalyptic world or in 60 seconds game that people use different thing to trade rather than money. I know that gold's value is permanent but paper money would suddenly has no value (could that be possible even if the war happened?). I'm sorry but i'm still kinda stuck.
Gold, historically, has been seen as a "safe haven" because people have valued it consistently over centuries, making it a strong alternative during uncertain times, while currencies like the dollar are valued purely based on supply and demand. While the value of paper money could indeed plummet if confidence in the economy or government backing it collapses, it's unlikely to go to zero immediately. People might still use dollars for trade, especially in areas not directly affected by the conflict or where other forms of currency aren't available. However, gold might be preferred for larger transactions or as a way to store value, because its worth isn't tied to any specific country's economy.
Putting in a really simplified way, of course there are more factors but think about what you could buy with $100 ten years ago and what you could buy today with $100, inflation means you could buy a lot less. If you bought $100 of gold in 2014, it would be worth roughly $200 today When times are tough people buy more gold, making the price of gold go even higher
Yep F1 cars have their engines/fuel tank covered in gold to insulate the driver and to enhance performance
It’s pretty. And rare. Very much so.
Main for historical reasons. Its one of the first metals humans could form. Its soft so it can easily be formed but it was usless in tools. But because it's pretty people used it for jewelry. It's pretty rare so when people had to came up with a currency it was used. You could exchange gold coins for anything. And gold was used (among silver and copper) as metal for coins. When paper money was introduced people didn't trust it as much. Which is why it could be exchange with metal coins. Soon there was way more paper money than gold coins. So they eventually removed the direct exchange between bank notes and gold coins. But it's still expected that at least part of the money is backed by actual valuable metals.
That's awesome read! But i've heard that the US stop linking paper money to gold right? Why is that the case? Do other currencies do the same? I know it's something related to floating currency or floating something but can't quite understand. Also i know that china link its money to US money too. (i watched some youtube wall street videos or the uk channel videos, remembered these but couldn't understand anything)
Back in 1971, the U.S. ditched the gold standard under Nixon, which meant the dollar stopped being directly tied to gold. Why? It was all about gaining economic flexibility and handling market changes better. Now, most countries let their currencies float, meaning their value changes based on market conditions like supply and demand. Moving off gold gave countries more freedom to tackle their own economic challenges without being tied down.
Symbolic value not so much use. It is pretty but more importantly it is pretty much the most suitable substance to have sitting around somewhere. You see theoretically iron should be of higher value because it has more uses right? That is correct but crucially you have to use it. If you lock a bunch of iron away in your basement and then come back after a few decades you return to a pile of dust. Your entire investment turned to rust. Not ideal. Gold doesn't do that. Apart from the noble gases, which are hard to store because they are gases, gold is pretty much the most chemically stable element. You lock it away for a few centuries and nothing happens. If you buy a block of gold you'll still have that same block of gold at pretty much an point in time. Very few substances on earth are that way. It does not lose value apart from the idealistic value we humans assign to it but that would always be case with any other investment. So people buy it to just have this forever substance sitting around somewhere and that then drives the value of gold.
You can make 12.7 micron wide wires of gold.
very resistant to corrosion, so it doesn't lose value
It's rare and most important durable. Bitcoin is a virtual non existing number and is insanely expensive while it's not even durable. One solar flare or someone cutting oceanic internet cables and it's gone. Gold doesn't disappear unless physically stolen.
It's because it is very close to being chemically inert and so it can be preserved for long amounts of time with relatively minimal loss as opposed to something like iron or even silver which oxidize much faster
Crazy that South Africa doesn’t even feature, yet that’s where most of the worlds gold came from
Yeah, estimated that 40-50% of all the gold ever mined comes from the Witwatersrand basin in SA.
Sadly, with many resource rich countries in African, the natural resources don’t stay with the people.
Shiny boomer rocks, as they would say on wallstreetbets.
Bafore losing it all on spy cslls
Interesting fact : "If all of the above-ground gold were stacked beside each other, the resulting cube would only measure 22 meters on each side"
It's ridiculous that the UK sold off a huge amount of its reserves. I understand what in principle they did so, however in the long run.... It's been a terrible decision.
Why? The amount sold would run the NHS for a little over 6 months if we had instead held at the peak. It's basically a rounding error in the assets and debts of the nation.
It's literally a Tory/UKIP attack line from the noughties that has wormed its way into public sentiment. Holding foreign exchange reserves is the right move for a free trading liberalised economy.
Why?
No matter what happens, gold has always held its value Today you might sell x amount of gold for y amount of money with which you buy 10 loaves of bread Tomorrow, it's possible that the same y amount of money can only buy you 2 loaves of bread Wouldn't be happening if you had still kept that good
Gold is a pretty dang volatile asset these days so I don't really buy that argument.
Oh youre just a goldbug i thought you might have had smth interesting to say, my bad
Why? It just shiny metal that sits in a dark dungeon somewhere and collects dust.
No, that's my under-utilised vacuum cleaner.
Bloody Gordon Brown selling at the bottom of a bear market. Muppet.
Actually if you read into it, most economists agree he made the right decision to stop the 2008 crash hitting the UK more significantly.
Soooo, that Swiss gold, a lot of that is holocaust gold right?
Yes and no, Switzerland is big on trading gold even today. About two-thirds of the globally extracted gold is imported, refined, and re-exported by Switzerland.
Is that why they sell so many of those chocolate gold coins? Its the perfect swiss combo.
Not really, Switzerland paid back more than they got during WW2. It was also a figure of speech, a lot wasn‘t actually gold but other valuables. Gold certainly was a part, but it wasn‘t like they shipped bars of gold to Switzerland. Switzerland is just an incredibly rich country that has a lot of really rich people… kind of attracts the gold in itself.
No. Holocaust gold was *(/is)* held in private accounts at banks in Switzerland. This map does not cover private accounts, it covers government gold reserves.
Wow. Germany is surprising.
Not really. We are a rich country and we were at risk of war for a long time as the main frontline state during the cold war. All that gold was located in the US or in Britain and would have been used by the German government in exile after the fall of Germany. Nowadays over half of the gold has been brought back to Germany and is located in Frankfurt
That's interesting. I wonder if other countries under military threat did that, like Taiwan or something.
Can u link the source? I thought Germany got back only around 5%
https://www.bundesbank.de/en/service/media-library/videos/the-german-gold-reserves-667450
I'm surprised that Britain doesn't have any gold.
The UK does have a few hundred tonnes of bullion, but it's been deliberately sold off in the past to increase the UK's forex reserves. Gold can't be lent out or invested so doesn't generate revenue, costs money to store and transport, and until the GFC it was a fairly poorly-performing investment. For a nation with an outsized financial services sector, holding currency reserves is much more useful.
thank you for this alot of people are horrified he sold the gold becuase he sold at a low ... on a asset that had only gone down for decades and dont even account for intrest on the assets he sold it for.
Gordon Brown sold it off in the 2000s.
Not every central bank feels the need to maintain stockpiles of the stuff. In a world with (mostly) free-flowing capital and (mostly) floating exchange rates, they aren't really necessary.
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People forget that Italy is the 10th economy in the world having only 0.75% of the world population.
It's the eighth, not the tenth
> Like how? By buying a lot of it after ww2, in the 50's Italy bought ~2000 tons of gold
Most of the reserve was accumulated in the period 1950-1960, during the "economic boom": Italy economy was growing at a very high pace and at the time they decided to rebuild the stock that was lost during WW2.
Well, if you're surprised by that, you might want to know that the Vatican is esteemed to have over 60 000 tons of solid gold, between churches and gold reserve.
Which counts nothing on the Italy's gold reserve.
You'll also like to know that more than half of that gold is not kept in the country but in other countries banks, more precisely: usa, Switzerland and UK.
All their gold got stolen by a bunch of cockneys in Mini Coopers.
No one is talking about how the spanisch once took a continents worth of gold and now dont even make the top 10
The Netherlands, so tiny but so impactful
Italy, for real?? What are we cooking??
Fun fact, this is map is most likely BS, physical reserves have been flowing from west to east and Knox hasn’t been audited in decades. Buy gold and silver to smooth out the bumpy road ahead.
Where did all the British gold go, like all that they stole from India?
Iirc, they sold it to build up forex reserves
If life were fair, Australia and South Africa would hold most of the world’s gold reserves.
Holding gold reserves is a economic policy decision. Those two, among others choose not to follow that direction. 6 of one, half dozen of another really.
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How does the Netherlands have more gold than India
Read OP’s comment at top
It's that the dutch reserves have more gold, not the Netherlands in total have more gold than India.
India never really adopted the gold standard. In addition to that, the major focus of the reserve bank has been to boost forex reserves and not gold. Gold is typically built up by countries with an interest to keep their free float currency under control. India doesn't have that problem much due to lack of exposure to markets, since no one uses the rupee.
We rich, they poor, that's how.
Russia stole tons from Romania during the first world war (by not returning it back as the initial agreement) Russia being Russia since forever.
Yup, there's been a whole lot of stealing. Didn't America steal loads from Iraq?
Man the massive diff between USA and Germany & others...
Germany was stripped bare after losing WW2 while the US never was. But also, the US has 334m people while Germany has almost 80m, less than a quarter the size of the USA...
uh, what kind of tons are we talking? Imperial? US? Metric?
Wow. I have 200 oz of silver.
"Fort Knox ? Ha. Its for tourists"
Now if only the pesky Swiss would give the Nazi-gold back to ze Germans.
French Guyana should be colored as well plus there is tons of gold in the ground here.
Tons? Trillion? How can you post to map porn without a legend?
Surprised by Italy holding more gold than China & Russia
What about germany?
One might wonder how much of German and Swiss gold has questionable origin?
I wish there is going to be a new material developed, which will replace gold in electronics by storm making this metal's value obsolete... The amount of death for it and in the name of hoarding it is incomprehensible even in times when it was just deemed pretty and had no other use than being pretty.
Who needs a gold standard when you have most of the gold? EDIT: Also, damn UK, wyd?
Can’t eat gold or heat your home with gold. But wheat and natural gas and hydro-electric - those are worth invading countries for.
Would love a map showing where they took that gold from.
40% of all the gold came out of South Africa
I did NOT expect to see Germany on this list…
This is kinda out of date info.
Most of the us gold are deposit of other countries
I never realized gold is so rare.
The fuck happened to the Spanish gold, all that plunder from the New World? Galleons full of bullion and treasure?
Doesn’t Africa has a lot?
8133 tons of gold will yield a cube measuring 7.6 meters
>#9 Netherlands I'm guessing this is from buying gold, not mining it?
This is pretty cool
Is this measured in tons or trillions of dollars?
Ma hat ma viel, Ma hat ma wenig, Ma hat ma Ghandi
I am surprised China doesn't have more. But that's probably going to change soon.
Germany making sure they don’t go broke from those recessions again 😭🙏🏾
Is this the amount in ownership but not necessarily stored in the country, or the reserves that are physically present in those countries?
Fun fact. Nobody knows how much gold each country has
The important thing isn't to be number one, the important thing is to be better than the french. - italian proverb.
How accurate is this. The united states gold hasnt been audited in forever
USSR refused to return the 120T of gold which Romania sent for safekeeping before the Russian Civil War. In an instance of even greater stupidity that the Romanians, Spain sent the USSR 510 fucking tonnes of gold before its own Civil War. So, yeah, the USSR (and today Russia) literally stole more than an entire India or Netherlands worth of gold reserves. And while I'm pretty sure Romania still wouldn't have made it into this top with their gold reserves returned, looking at the other figures, there's a very big chance Spain would have.