Why is gold linked to currency? And do not choose other metals?

Gold as a currency has a long history, the excavation of the ancient Roman Alexander gold coins have been more than 2300 years ago, Persian gold coins have been more than 2500 years of history. The earliest surviving gold coin in China is the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period of Chu casting "Ying love", has a history of more than 2,300 years from now. But these gold coins are only in a certain range, the regional circulation of the use of coins. Gold has become a world recognized international currency is in the nineteenth century "gold standard" period. The "gold standard" that gold can be used as a domestic means of payment, for the circulation of settlement; Can be used as a foreign trade settlement of international hard currency. Although as early as 1717 in the United Kingdom first implemented the gold standard system, but only until 1816 formally in the system to determine. After Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, France, Russia, Japan and other countries have announced the implementation of the gold standard system. The gold standard system is the peak of the performance of gold monetary properties. Countries around the world to implement the gold standard system for more than two hundred years, short of a few decades, and China has not been implemented the gold standard system. After the outbreak of the world war, countries have gold control, gold standard system is difficult to maintain. On the eve of the end of the second world war, under the leadership of the United States, held the bretton woods conference, adopted the relevant resolution, decided to establish the dollar as the center of the international monetary system, but the dollar and gold peg, the United States commitment to take up to 35 U.S. dollars to exchange for an ounce of gold international obligations. But the twentieth century sixties successively occurred several times gold rush, the United States in order to maintain their own interests, first gave up the gold fixed official price, and then announced that no longer assume the obligation to exchange gold, so the Bretton Woods monetary system disintegration, so began the gold non-monetization reform. This reform began in the early 1970s of the twentieth century, to the 1978 revised International Monetary Fund Agreement was approved, it can be said that the institutional level of gold demonetization process has been completed.

Marx said, "Money is naturally gold and silver, and gold and silver are naturally not money." As in the gold standard system before, gold plays a monetary function, in the system level of gold monetization is not equal to gold has completely lost the monetary function:

- foreign trade settlement no longer use gold, but the final balance of income and expenditure, gold is still a kind of trade can be accepted by both sides of the settlement method.

- gold demonetization did not provide for the huge gold reserves of the countries to go, even held up the banner of gold demonetization of the International Monetary Fund also only provides for the disposal of 1 / 6 gold reserves, while retaining most of the gold reserves, apparently for their own stay a monetary gold tail.

-- the twentieth century, the birth of the euro monetary system at the end of the nineties, clear gold accounted for 15% of the system's currency reserves. This is the return of gold monetization.

-- Gold is still internationally acceptable following the U.S. dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, the yen after the fifth largest international settlement currency. The great economist Keynes revealed the secret of monetary gold, he pointed out: "Gold has an important role in our system. It serves as a guard of last resort and a reserve in case of urgent need, and nothing else has yet taken its place." Now gold can be considered as a quasi-currency.