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Bitcoin has a just as relevant, or more so, actual use in buying drugs and frowned upon things on the internet, escaping government restrictions on money, etc.

Gold has those same uses but at an international level and is generally approved of. The gold may never actually move, but ownership will transfer between countries.

But you have to use a middleman or intermediary. The genius of bitcoin was when Satoshi removed that and solved the double-spending problem in a decentralized way.

>Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

Except that bitcoin relies on a whole network of middlemen to prove the validity of that transaction. Without miners you have no transaction.

The quantities used are usually very small though. Gold plated not made of gold. I don't think the use as a commodity drives or explains the price.

The primary use of gold, AIUI, is jewelry in India.