[rsanek]

rare Earths have a pretty big downside of having huge swings in the supply when there happens to be a discovery. you want a pretty stable supply for a reserve currency / backing commodity.

oil is fairly difficult / expensive to transport and store, certainly at volume.

more at https://www.lynalden.com/what-is-money/

[Rhapso]

With the current communication capacity, "transport" isn't horribly relevant. Free exchange of any currency backing substance would be as bad as bitcoin for fraud. So why bother moving it? Oil changes owners all the time without going anywhere.

[fuzzfactor]

>oil is fairly difficult / expensive to transport and store, certainly at volume.

More difficult for some technologies than others, which I tried to come to terms with long ago.

After over 40 years, I'm still here to help when it makes sense.

>Oil changes owners all the time without going anywhere.

Even more often when it is on open water already on the way somewhere else.

It just doesn't fulfill its destiny until its voyage is not only underway, but fully completed.