US dollars was backed by gold until Richard Nixon took the USD of the gold standard. Then the USD was backed by oil via the petrodollar. Now the trust in the USD is vanishing and oil producing countries leaving the petrodollar. So now almost the only thing left is the US military. If the oil producing countries not obey the US. The US will send it military and overtake the governments and the control of that country.

We are living in 2017. Not the stone-age. So of course gold have a value these days. The same goes with a Porsche or a nice watch. Back in the stone-age if you was good at throwing. Some could invest in you and give you an ax. So the stone had some value and the ax have an bigger value. So what do you want from your talent? An other stone or an ax or a piece of metal someone just found? My guess you want the metal.