The Periodic Table of Money

Nature hands us 118 elements. Which one should be money? Instead of arguing, let’s test. Apply the properties of money one at a time and watch the periodic table narrow itself — with no help from us — down to gold and silver.

This is the argument first popularised by Andreas Antonopoulos and the “Money is Broken” talk: money wasn’t chosen, it was discovered. Press the button to apply each property in turn.

Gold wins the store of value; silver wins the coin

Of the two survivors, gold is scarcer and effectively indestructible — the better long-term store of value. Silver is more abundant and cheaper — better for everyday, smaller payments. For millennia societies ran on both: gold for savings and settlement, silver for daily trade. Hold that thought — Bitcoin is engineered to have gold’s scarcity and silver’s divisibility at the same time.

Key takeaways

• Test each element against money’s demands and almost all of them are eliminated.
• Gases, liquids, radioactive and reactive elements all fail; the monetary metals — gold and silver — are what remain.
• Civilisations that never met all converged on gold, because chemistry left them the same short list of options.

Check yourself

Why did so many separate civilisations independently settle on gold as money?

They copied one anotherChemistry leaves only a few scarce, durable, non-reactive options — and gold wins on all of themGold was the most common metal aroundAn international treaty required it

What disqualifies most elements from ever being money?

They are simply too heavyThey’re gases or liquids, radioactive, corrode, or are far too commonThey cost too much to buyThey are illegal to own