[ineedasername]

In light of this week’s banking collapse precipitated by (among other things) lost confidence, I’ll ask:

To what extent does it matter that some of the bars in the vault are fake if everyone has confidence they’re real?

Also it seems like anyone who might inadvertently acquired some in lieu of the real thing & suspect the fraud down the line, they really have little incentive to cut the bar in half to find out. Best not to know.

[lazide]

At some point someone will need to melt it down to use for industry, or for another purpose, or form. Say a comex bar, or smaller bars, or for alloying, whatever.

Anyone who thinks they might be that person, or thinks they might sell to that person, certainly cares! They’re the ones who will suffer the consequences of the fraud.

[Fatnino]

One example of a use that requires real gold is the manufacture of gold plated tungsten.

[killingtime74]

It doesn't matter as long as you're not the one holding the bag when it gets discovered and something negative happens

[ASalazarMX]

It doesn't matter, as long as no one notices. You could say the same about counterfeit anything.