One of the reasons people use gold is because carrying it around is actually pretty easy. Eg, wandering the streets with a few million in gold bars is no challenge. You can carry it in a bag and the odds of someone checking your bag for millions of dollars in hard assets is low.
Not to mention that if the gold is banked then it probably didn't need transport because it was being transported too and from a bank.
Well, the OP did say thousands of years. But I take your point, money transfer without moving physical gold has been possible for hundreds of years for sure.
Not to mention that if the gold is banked then it probably didn't need transport because it was being transported too and from a bank.