Gold’s Shift from Peg to Investment Asset

Gold shifted from currency anchor to investment asset: Bretton Woods (1944) pegged the dollar to gold at $35/oz; the Triffin dilemma exposed strains. In 1971 President Nixon ended convertibility, freeing gold to float. Gold didn’t track inflation under the gold standard; after 1971 it surged to $850 by 1980. Gold futures began in 1974; GLD launched in 2004.