Linux Flourishes In 200-Year-Old Gold Markets 195
tbarkerload writes "H-Online [a spin off of a major German daily] reports on a gold trader managing over 15 tonnes of gold, worth $660m, with a platform built on open source tech. BullionVault operates a 24-7 electronic market in gold bullion open to both retail and professional traders. Their systems handle thousands of daily transactions from both human traders and bots operating through their API. If Linux has reached the world of hundred year old assaying firms, and Swiss vaults buried in mountains, can final world domination be too far away?"
Re:Anyone else hoarding gold? (Score:3, Informative)
Because it's pretty. That's about it.
You're overlooking several things. First, gold is a metal. Metal currencies are better than other 'precious' things, because they can be melted down, recast, and almost endlessly. Gemstones are pretty, but the have problems as currency. For one, they can shatter, or break, and can't be repaired, which destroys value. If I want to trade 1/2 of my ruby with you, there's not an easy to do that. I can cut up a piece of gold almost endlessly and I don't ruin its value as gold.
It's a pretty metal that doesn't tarnish or corrode, and it's relatively rare. It's an element, so it can't break down chemically. Silver and copper are also valuable elemental metals, but silver tarnishes, and copper corrodes.