Gold was considered a valuable commodity in the old days. I think that this is due to the fact that it is practically not oxidized. Now the achievements of chemistry are such that it is not the main advantage. Then what is the value of gold?
The value of gold is that someone will give you around $1180 for an ounce.
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It is interesting that the charges leveled against Au apply even better against Bitcoin. Bitcoin was a first-cut at a crypto-currency, and through various lessons learned much better implementations in it's class and a lot less baggage can and probably do exist.
The value of Bitcoin is that someone will give you around $904 for one.