system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Is latinum actually good for anything other than trading with Ferengi?

Gold, for example, has some uses in manufacturing electronic circuits and experimental cancer treatments. Does latinum have any practical uses, or is it valuable solely because it's rare and unreplicable?
gpt
Latinum is very rare and impossible to replicate, which is the sole reason why it's used as a form of currency.
 
Something to keep in mind with gold is that we've discovered it's practical applications recently. A few hundred years ago it was purely for currency and ornamental purposes.