copper

Monetary property checklist

Property	Met
Medium of exchange	✅
Unit of account	✅
Portable	✅
Durable	✅
Divisible	✅
Fungible	✅
Relative scarcity	❌

Copper is pretty ubiquitous in the world and is used in a lot of different applications. It's not as scarce as gold or silver, but it's still a valuable metal and has a lot of industrial applications. Because of this it's price is much lower than gold or silver.

Like other metals, copper is inherently private. You can hide it under your mattress, in a safe, or in a vault. You decide.

Copper isn't as easy to get your hands on than you'd expect. You can buy it from a dealer, online, or at a local shop... but it's just not as easy as gold or silver since it's not as widely used as a investment metal. For this reason, it's harder to find a place to sell your copper than it is to buy it. As an investment, it's not as likely to go to zero but it's also not as likely to go to the moon.

Because copper is not as widely used as an investment metal, it poses a liquidation risk for your portfolio if you need to sell it quickly. It's potentially easier to liquidate as a scrap metal than it is to sell it as an investment metal.

Copper, as an industrial metal, is going to be useful for the foreseeable future; it's not going to be obsolete anytime soon. Copper will be with us for a long time to come and it's possible should prices or inflation continue to rise, copper's price could rise as well and maybe even become more valuable as an investment. Obviously, we can't see the future so we can't say for sure.

Copper is as easy to self-custody as gold or silver. You can hide it under your mattress, in a safe, or in a vault. You can also store it at a depository. It's up to you how you want to do it, but it's easy to do. Keep in mind that it requires a lot more space than silver so if you're not willing to make the investment in a large safe, then you may want to consider other options.

Local shops and dealers probably don't carry copper. That's not to say you can't find it, but it's not as easy as gold or silver. Buying it online from a reputable dealer is probably your best bet if you're looking to buy it as an investment metal... BUT... know that even buying online isn't as ubiquitous as it is for more popular investment metals like gold or silver.

Owning copper, like gold and silver, is the ultimate form of wealth sovereignty. No middlemen, no gatekeepers, no government interference. You own it, you control it, you decide what to do with it. You can spend it, invest it, or hold it for the future. It's yours.

The downside is that it's just not as easy to liquidate. If you're looking long term... then that's not a problem for you.

Once copper is in your possession, it's yours as long as you keep it safe.

The only counterparty risk is associated with where you buy it from. If you buy it from a trusted dealer, your risk is often low.

Like metals, copper is censorship resistant.

However, because copper is not as widely used as an investment metal, it's not easy to spend or use as a currency for goods and services. This means it's not as easy to settle for those that accept copper as payment- if any exist.