Money is something that can easily be traded by the masses or a subsection thereof, has value or perceived value by the masses, and can't be easily counterfeited. Gold has little practical use for the masses: can't eat it, smoke it, use it for insulation in your house, etc. It DOES have practical use in industry, or could be used as boat anchors (in alloy) by the masses, so it does have a little practical value. To the masses, gold almost only has perceived value, little practical value. Cash has much greater perceived value, so much in fact, that it has practical value. Think about Bitcoin as money.