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People used to desire to acquire gold but weren't particularly interested in storing it in their houses, paying for storage and insurance while being transported, etc. A variety of e-gold, e-bullion, and general pooled accounts were used to cover the demand gap. Writing about it makes me think of the moment from the Lord of the Rings movie, which may sound strange to anyone unfamiliar with the precious metals market.

I was there, Gandalf, three thousand years ago.

Elrond says this when discussing how men's frailty led to the existing quo in Middle Earth.

So, yeah, I was there when e-gold became well-known. It's unclear if the e-gold accounts really had any physical gold behind them (and weren't merely using futures contracts as hedges).

Uncompromising experts said that it is just "paper gold" and not a genuine object that would provide safety in the event of catastrophic financial turbulence unless you can physically have it in your hands. Some claimed that it most certainly exists and offers genuine security as long as you know the serial numbers of the precise bars that you possess.

Then came the ETFs; GLD debuted in 2004 and SLV debuted in 2006, causing a local crash in silver prices and perplexing those who were unaware of the market's buy-the-rumor-sell-the-fact response.

The question of whether they are supported by actual metal still generates discussion. Additionally, the more proof (or "evidence") one side (believers / those who question the existence of certain metals) offers, the more opposition it inspires from the other side.

On a related topic, certain ETFs allow for the in-kind redemption of actual metals, which pretty much indicates that they have to be present. This may be the ideal solution for investors who want to strike a compromise between convenience and security.

And just when it seemed that the situation involving the alternatives to fiat money and the ways in which one may hold them was steady...

When cryptocurrencies emerged, the environment was dramatically altered.

At initially, there was just Bitcoin, but others quickly joined.

Sincerely, I did learn about it before it became well-known, but I just dismissed it as boring. I disregarded my intuition to purchase some nonetheless, just in case. Lesson learned: Having an intuition is crucial, as is being aware of something before others (and having faith in that knowledge).

Sometimes, the market and the investors who created it are so steadfastly opposed to something that is going to become enormous that such "unclear periods" drag on much longer than they need to (from an objective standpoint).

Recall the pandemic's very beginning? With the advantage of hindsight, it was very evident that most of the events would occur, but it was just too simple to ignore.

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