Gold's Applications: More Than Half Is Now Store of Value
Store-of-value demand, central banks, bars, and coins, now exceeds jewellery for the first time, a real shift in what gold is actually bought for.
Store of value
Central bank reserves, bars, and coins, the now-largest category, covered in depth on this material's economics page.
Jewellery
Gold's traditional largest use, now alloyed to specific karat grades for durability, covered on the mechanics page.
Technology
Corrosion-resistant, highly conductive contacts and bonding wire in electronics, a direct application of gold's chemical inertness.
Other
Dentistry and a small range of specialty industrial uses.
The breakdown
Gold’s technology demand, while the smallest category, is genuinely irreplaceable at the margin in specific applications: the chemical inertness covered on this material’s materials science page makes gold the standard for connectors and bonding wire in contexts where corrosion-free, reliable conductivity over decades of service life matters more than material cost.
Sources: end-use shares reference this project’s own verified demand data (World Gold Council, USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025).