Come back when you understand the basics of property and...

Come back when you understand the basics of property and contract law. You are absolutely correct, "money in the bank" is not what people think it is from a property and contract point of view. When you deposit funds at a bank you become a general unsecured creditor of the bank. You have gifted your funds to the bank and they owe it back to you (assuming they are still open for business).

But you are absolutely incorrect in your understanding of how SendGold (and certain other similar) operate. When you exchange your funds for gold at SendGold you own the gold. It belongs to you. It's yours. (How many other ways are there to express this to you?). There are no "big players" who somehow have any ownership rights whatsoever over your gold.

"Unless you keep your physical gold in non bank vaults". Which is precisely what SendGold does for you.