If you're buying gold these days, typically it just sits in fort Knox or wherever, and you're buying a record of ownership.

There is a very, very long history of that being a bad idea. There are some situations (commodity exchanges) it’s necessary, but they are heavily regulated and audited for that reason. They also have non trivial storage costs.

Gold depositories have the same issues as crypto exchanges have typically had - it’s almost inevitable that someone absconds with the actual gold without telling anyone, or ‘prints’ extra without backing assets, etc. and until someone does an audit or everyone tries to withdraw their gold/tokens/whatever, no one knows.

It also enables a lot of other scams.

[https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect/AdvisoriesAndArticles/f...]

For anyone reading, educate yourself so you don’t get defrauded.

Not all depositories are a bad idea in all situations - but be cautious.

(Also, historical footnote - the last credible audit of the gold at Fort Knox was in 1974, hah - https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/in...)