did "teh mass" ever had gold in any meaningful way?
hmnope.
Yes, once upon a time when gold was money. Now gold 2.0 is money.
The plebs didn't hold any significant amount of gold. They were too poor for that.
Even the poor needed a currency for the exchange of goods and services, for the majority of known human history this has been in the form of gold and silver coins, my point still stands.