/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>24256551
The problem is the stock to flow of the metal. Shells have been used as currency, but I wouldn't call seashells monetary. Same with beads. Gold and silver are monetary metals. Copper fits in for low value circulation, but it isn't even monetary.

See pic related. Sorry for the BTC bits, but it was the only chart I could find quickly that had gold, silver, and platinum for comparison. And it's kind of misleading about stock to flow regarding BTC since it's not consumed in industry, which is what stock to flow is supposed to indicate. Platinum is almost entirely consumed. It is 99% an industrial metal since it's stock to flow ratio is 1.1.

It's valuable, don't get me wrong. It's obviously a precious metal. But it's not a monetary metal and functions poorly as one due to the overwhelming demand on it to be consumed. If your coinage is more likely to be melted down to be used in industry than it is to be held in coinage to circulate, then it's not a monetary metal.

So platinum's price will track with other industrial commodities, more so than gold and silver.