I don't know how to verify gold exactly without melting it down.. and then there are problems with melting it down for sure.. so it ends up going back to trust with the various stamps on the gold and from where the pieces came.. so then if they are getting exchanged a lot (because these are stamped pieces, that does not seem to be very divisible).
The ONE BIG problem with verifiability is not just on its own as the only problem because it then overlaps with the various other traits.. even if we could have various sizes of verified gold (would that even be practical?)..
There’s more to that. Gold coins given out by governments can simply be debased or ultimately abandoned, if they become tired of hard money. You will likely need some mint they choose. Also in a gold standard their reserves can start to get depleted by foreign countries etc, because they have to make bills redeemable. It’s just a whole complicated mess again that failed for a reason. It won’t protect individuals like Bitcoin, that’s for sure.
To add to the verifiability problem: there’s gold bars with some protective packaging that should serve as a certificate for being real, but they can easily be faked and also then you have to trust the mint even more, as you won’t even be able to touch it anymore. So it’s a double mess.
Bitcoin solves so many of those gold problems all at once.. so why even fuck around with gold.. unless the Armageddon hits. and even then.. i question the practicality of preparing for Armageddon.. even though it has begun to seem way more likely that Armageddon could come since early 2020 as compared to its seemingly lower odds of coming prior to our revelations about the levels of pure vacuousness and precariousness of the world since early 2020.
I doubt that in an armageddon gold makes a difference. You can’t eat or drink it and so can’t other people. Running around with a lot of gold would also be heavy, dangerous and a waste, when you’re on the hunt for real resources. You can only realistically make a few payments cuz u can’t divide it. And resources like food, water, weapons will probably be trading for a lot more. In nature your best bet is having a group, not some metal.