Gold wasn’t valuable because of jewelry 📿. It was money first—and that’s why people wore it. The popular tale says we loved shiny trinkets and then they became money. Sounds nice. But it’s backwards. Gold beat other goods because it’s durable, divisible, verifiable, and highly value-dense. Crucially, its stock-to-flow is high: the total stock already above ground dwarfs the new annual supply, so new mining⛏️ barely dilutes holders. That’s why it worked so well for saving and exchange. After gold became money, people did the obvious thing: they wore their savings. In many cultures, gold jewelry functions as a portable savings account—wealth you can carry, pledge, or pass down. As Nick Szabo put it, early “collectibles” evolved into money because they were superb at storing and signaling value across time and groups. Jewelry followed money—not the other way around. Myth busted: We didn’t prize gold due to ornaments. We made ornaments out of gold because it was already the best money 🪙. #gold #investing #Bitcoin #SoundMoney #AustrianEconomics

That viral “gold vs U.S. Treasuries” chart is misleading. ❗ It compares gold (a reserve asset) to USTs (just one instrument inside USD-denominated FX assets). Apples 🍎 vs oranges 🍊 . 1️⃣ What are “total reserves” ❓ For simplicity: Total reserves = FX assets 🏦 (e.g., U.S. Treasuries, USD/EUR bank deposits) + gold 🪙 + SDRs 🧻 (IMF-created reserve asset that can be swapped for currency). 2️⃣ Today’s rough mix (shares of total reserves): 🪙 Gold: ~20% 💵 USD (all USD-denominated FX assets, not just Treasuries): ~46% 💶 EUR: ~16% 🧻 Other: ~18% 3️⃣ Why USTs ≠ the whole USD picture (and what’s the split?) Within USD FX assets globally (100% = USD only): 🧻 U.S. Treasuries: ~50% 🧻 USD bank deposits: ~43% 🧻 Other (agencies/MBS, MMFs, supranationals): ~7% 4️⃣ Is the USD share in reserves collapsing like some charts suggest? No. The Fed’s 2025 update shows the USD share of FX reserves has been roughly stable around ~58%, only ~1–2pp lower than 2021–22. If you include gold (whose price rose), the USD share of total reserves edges down a bit more—still a modest drift, not a collapse. (Reminder: the Fed figure is FX-only; adding gold changes the denominator.) ✨ Bottom line: The chart pits gold vs USTs, not gold vs USD. Gold’s share is up mainly because gold’s price rose, and while that mechanically trims the USD share of total reserves a little, the USD’s role in reserves still remains steady. 🟠 Personal note: I do expect gold’s share to continue rising 📈 and the USD share to continue declining 📉 —but likely more slowly 🐢 than many would like. Sources:

The International Role of the U.S. Dollar – 2025 Edition

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington DC.

<-great report on the topic. 📄.pdf #CentralBankReserves #Gold #DeDollarization #SoundMoney #economics #finance #USDollar