Gold is a public blockchain in its own right, not an obscured one. Identifiable out in the open, by atomic number, and by anyone who cares to inspect it.

Gold futures on the other hand are not a public blockchain. They are paper contracts which you cannot see and are kept private due to the fact that they're associated with an individual. But then again, gold futures are tier 2 monetary media - a piece of paper that is backed by gold.

So even by that analogy:

Gold = Part of the "metals" public blockchain with address 79 in the periodic table that is inspectable by anyone
Gold futures = obscured blockchain that is only any use as long as its "backer" (the public blockchain metal) exists