Cash is mined by ASICs and gold is ASIC-resistant and was created to be mined by videocards (to be sure people have what to mine if ethereum moves to POS finally).
So basically this is a strategic move. If I am an Ethereum miner I should switch from Ethereum Mining to Bitcoin Gold just to be ahead of the game?
No BTG was dumped pretty hard at launch I haven't heard of anyone actually using it. It's just a coin that exists to exist.