The history of human discovery and use of gold was earlier than that of copper, iron and other metals, and it was discovered by human beings in the Neolithic Age 10000 years ago. Because of its good stability and rarity, gold has become a precious metal and is regarded as a wealth reserve. Because of its special natural attributes, gold is endowed with social attributes, namely functions of money. Marx wrote in Das Kapital: "Money is not gold and silver, but gold and silver are money." (1) Gold was monopolized by imperial nobles before19th century. Because gold is extremely scarce, it is basically a symbol of the monopoly of wealth and power by emperors. Or owned by the gods, become sacrificial utensils and materials for decoration and protection of the image of the gods; Although the world's first gold coin appeared in the 6th century BC, it is difficult for ordinary people to own gold. The gold mine is also owned by the royal family. At that time, gold was mined by slaves and prisoners under extremely harsh conditions. It is on this basis that gold cultivated the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Rome. /kloc-In the 6th century, the colonists left a bloody page in the history of human civilization in order to plunder gold, slaughter local people and destroy cultural heritage. Robbery and reward have become the main ways of gold circulation, and the market exchange model of free trade is difficult to develop. Even if it exists, it limits the scale of free trading of gold because of its exclusiveness. (2) Gold standard gold has a history of thousands of years as a worldwide trading medium and a measure of wealth. In order to understand the important role of gold in modern human society and infer and predict the role of gold in future human society, we must first understand the special status evolution history of the important role played by gold in the financial field of human society for a long time in the past. In the long-term development of human society, gold has been endowed with monetary value function in human social and economic activities. After a long historical evolution, the gold standard financial system of gold has been gradually established. The gold standard is a monetary system in which gold is used as a monetary metal for circulation. It is a monetary system widely practiced in European and American capitalist countries from the end of 19 to the first half of the 20th century. The gold standard was first born in European countries in the wave of industrial revolution. 17 17, the gold standard was first implemented in Britain. 18 16, Britain promulgated the gold standard act, which was formally confirmed in the system and became the basis of the British monetary system. By the19th century, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, France and the Netherlands. The gold standard means that gold is a currency and a hard currency internationally. The main contents of the gold coin standard system include: ① using gold to specify the value represented by the issuing currency, each monetary unit has a legal gold content, and the currencies of various countries form a certain price comparison relationship according to the weight of the gold contained; 2 Gold coins can be freely minted, and anyone can freely give the gold bricks to the National Mint to be minted into gold coins according to the legal gold content, or exchange the gold coins from the Mint for equivalent gold bricks; (3) Gold coins are currencies with unlimited legal compensation and the right to unlimited means of payment; The currency reserve of each country is gold, which is also used in international settlement. Gold can be freely imported and exported, and when there is a deficit in international trade, it can be paid in gold. As can be seen from the above, the gold standard system has three characteristics: free casting, free exchange and free input and output. With the formation of the gold standard, gold bears the universal equivalent of commodity exchange and becomes the medium in the process of commodity exchange. The gold standard is the pinnacle of the monetary attribute of gold. Fifty-nine countries in the world have implemented the gold standard. Although the "gold standard" has been intermittent, it generally lasted until the 1920s. Due to the different specific conditions of different countries, some countries have implemented the "gold standard" for more than 200 years, while others have only implemented the "gold standard" for decades, while China has never implemented the gold standard. On the eve of the First World War, capitalist countries stepped up their plunder and control of gold in preparation for the world war, which seriously impacted the free casting of gold coins and the free exchange system of issued banknotes and gold coins, and the input and output of gold among countries in the world were strictly restricted. After the outbreak of World War I, the military expenditure of imperialist countries increased sharply, and they stopped gold coin casting and the exchange of gold coins and paper money, and prohibited the import and export of gold. These behaviors fundamentally destroyed the foundation of the gold coin standard system and led to the complete collapse of the gold coin standard system. 3) BRICS standard Britain stopped the gold standard system at 19 19 and resumed the use of the BRICS standard system at 1926; Under this system, paper money can only be exchanged for 400 ounces of internationally recognized gold bars. In the same period, other countries in Europe and America strengthened trade controls and prohibited the free trading, import and export of gold. After the First World War, the economies of many European and American capitalist countries were affected by inflation and rapid price increases, and the distribution of gold was extremely uneven, which made it difficult to restore the gold coin standard. 1922 At the World Monetary Conference held in Genoa, Italy, it was decided to adopt the principle of "saving gold" and implement the BRICS standards and gold exchange standards. The countries that implement the BRICS standard system mainly include Britain, France and the United States. Under the standard system of BRICS countries, the monetary unit of banknotes issued by central banks in various countries still stipulates the gold content, but gold is only concentrated in the reserves issued by central banks as currency, rather than casting circulating gold coins. The currency in circulation is completely replaced by the monetary unit of bank-issued paper money. People who hold more than a certain amount of bank-issued paper money can be converted into gold according to the specified gold content of paper money. In Britain, the minimum amount of paper money issued by banks to be exchanged for gold is 400 ounces of gold (about 1 700 pounds), and it will not be exchanged below the limit. France stipulates that the minimum amount of bank notes exchanged for gold is 2 1.500 francs, which is equal to 1.2 kg of gold. In this way, the demand for gold in the market is suppressed, and the purpose of preserving gold in circulation is achieved. Central banks of various countries are responsible for and control the import and export of gold, and private trading in gold is prohibited. The central bank maintains a certain amount of gold reserves to maintain the link between gold and currency. By the way, I recommend you a book, Currency War, which may be exaggerated, but the relationship between gold and currency is quite clear.

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Training materials of Beijing Xinhui TEDA Investment Consulting Co., Ltd.