马克思说，货币天然不是金银，金银天然是货币。由于价值高、稳定、易分割携带等特点，很早就开始被当成货币使用。
Marx said, money is not natural gold and silver, gold and silver is natural money. Due to its high value, stability, easy to carry and other characteristics, it has long been used as money.
16-18 世纪，因为黄金量比较少，所以白银和其他金凰作为货币。19世纪后，黄金产量大幅增加，为金本位制度的建立奠定了物质基础，人类社会进入了长达一个多世记的“金本位时期”。随着美元逐步崛起，国际货币体系从金本位转为美元与黄金挂钩的布雷顿森林体系。布雷顿森林体系实质是以黄金为基础的美元本位制货币体系。美元跟黄金挂钩，黄金的保障使美元成为了世界货币。1971年，美国宣布美元不与黄金挂钩，布雷顿森林体系解体，黄金非货币化的进程开始。从此，黄金的货币属性逐渐降低，但金融属性逐渐发挥，黄金市场进入了大发展时期。
In the 16th and 18th centuries, because there was so little gold, silver and other gold rings were used as currency. After the 19th century, gold production increased greatly, laying the material foundation for the establishment of the gold standard system, and human society entered the \"gold standard period\" for more than a century. With the gradual rise of the dollar, the international monetary system moved from the gold standard to the bretton woods system of linking the dollar to gold. The bretton woods system is essentially a gold - based dollar - based monetary system. The dollar was pegged to gold, and gold's guarantee made the dollar the world's currency. In 1971, the United States announced that the dollar was not linked to gold, bretton woods system disintegrated, and the process of non-monetization of gold began. Since then, the monetary property of gold gradually reduced, but the financial property gradually play, the gold market entered a period of great development.