To fully validate your gold holdings yourself, you must determine that the metal is actually gold at the purity stamped on the coin/bar. Or you must trust the authority whose image appears stamped in the object.
Obviously most gold holders do not have metallurgical laboratories in their homes, so your assertion is half-wrong. Yes, there is no counterparty risk to the transaction: you hold the gold. But there is third-party trust that what you have is indeed gold.
Of course, I would be a bad Bitcoiner if I didn't mention that Bitcoin solves both of these problems. You can fully validate the quantity and validity of your bitcoin with your copy of the blockchain.
Unlike "blockchain people" though, I do not believe gold -- or any other physical object -- can be realistically tracked in a digital system. So I reject the "put gold on the blockchain" idea as a non-starter.
Obviously most gold holders do not have metallurgical laboratories in their homes, so your assertion is half-wrong. Yes, there is no counterparty risk to the transaction: you hold the gold. But there is third-party trust that what you have is indeed gold.
Of course, I would be a bad Bitcoiner if I didn't mention that Bitcoin solves both of these problems. You can fully validate the quantity and validity of your bitcoin with your copy of the blockchain.
Unlike "blockchain people" though, I do not believe gold -- or any other physical object -- can be realistically tracked in a digital system. So I reject the "put gold on the blockchain" idea as a non-starter.