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by throwaway5752 2746 days ago
Platinum is valuable because it's an unbelievably good reaction catalyst and is unbelievably rare. Look at Palladium (also used in catalytic applications, and still quite rare) price charts for confirmation.

Bismuth's attractiveness is subjective, but what is not subjective is that it's found in ore in mineral form, not in pure form like gold. It's also brittle, and not easily worked to jewelry by primitive methods like gold.

Anyway, agree that gold is largely assigned it's value based on social reasons. Also would say that, in spite of its many faults, it's a much, much better investment than cryptocurrencies.

1 comments

> it's a much, much better investment than cryptocurrencies

I'm not going to argue that, on the basis that crypto is super volatile and has potential to outperfrom etc etc. Gold is a far safer store of value, a much better hedge against market turmoil, and generally easier to "own" at low risk of having it nabbed.