Gold ‘was’ money.
Today it’s just a yellow metal.
The only reason gold ever had value as money or currency is because an ‘entity of force’ made it so. Else it’s no different than a piece of rock, iron or lithium.
Although gold is rare compared to say silicon or quartz, so are many things such as natural pearls.
Gold is only money because an authority such as Caesar says it’s money. There is no other reason.
There is another reason. Gold is money because over 2 billion people in China, India, and Russia think it is money. And they hoard it in India, in spite of the actions of their government.