5000 years of human experience
Wrong, gold has value determined by scarcity and labor. It has always had value.
There has never been a time when gold wasn't money, expect perhaps before the great flood. I have no problem with the crypto's, but its not my thing. Internet goes down, and you have nothing.
There is mining which takes alot of energy, so I would say that is labor. But still its a internet based process, and much of the world still has no internet. I can take gold to the poorest places and they will recognize that as money.