No it is not moronic. It is called Hypothecation. Wall Street has an ounce of gold, which it then sells to you and gives you a paper certificate of ownership. Don’t worry friend, your gold is securely held in a guarded vault.
You and 10,000 others each have a certificate of ownership to that one ounce of gold. Wall Street just didn’t bother to mention that 9,999 others also have a certificate, like you do! Of course Wall Street collects ‘storage fees’ from each of you. All 10,000 are paying and pay and paying that monthly fee.
It’s all legal in the USA. Hypothecation.
