Hard assets are assets without counterparty risk, like Bitcoin is, but going long on Bitcoin futures is not. Physical gold is, but gold ETFs are not. Paper money earns interest in the bank because the currency issuer provides the interest—money makes money. Neither banks nor the custodians of gold ETFs produce gold; gold doesn’t produce more gold. This so-called interest either comes from investing in mines to get a share of gold production or investing in other areas and converting the returns into gold, and all of these processes carry risks.