Eli5: Why is gold considered to be inherently valuable?

Question

I hear some economics arguing that currency should be pegged to gold as a way of ensuring that its value isn’t arbitrary / volatile but I don’t understand how this would solve the problem. I understand that gold is a scarce resource that is difficult to mine but is it this alone that gives it intrinsic value ?

In: 115

Answer 1

Because gold is a very rare resource. I once read somewhere that if you were to gather all the gold humanity has ever mined in its entire history it would only fill up 2 Olympics sized swimming pools.