Bitvavo is registered with the Dutch Central Bank and guarantees €100,000 per account and customer in case of unauthorised access.
Here's how to create an account at Bitvavo
Registered with the Central Bank of the Netherlands and headquartered in Amsterdam, Bitvavo, which 11Onze recommends, is the leading European cryptocurrency exchange platform in terms of crypto trading volume in euros. We have prepared a tutorial explaining the easy steps you need to follow to open an account.
Since its market launch in 2018, Bitvavo has been driven by one of its founding pillars in making cryptocurrencies accessible to everyone. It was entering a sector dominated by US-based exchanges that were pioneers in facilitating the exchange of digital assets, but which were unintuitive for people inexperienced in trading cryptocurrencies and had some shortcomings in terms of the security they offered to their users.
With a very tight fee structure that allows them to be among the most competitive exchange platforms in Europe, success was not long in coming. Bitvavo, which 11Onze recommends, accumulated more than 26 billion euros in trading volume by 2023 and has climbed to first place among European platforms in crypto trading volume in euros.

Steps you need to follow to open an account
Oriol Blanch, Bitvavo’s affiliate manager, has prepared a tutorial so that members of the 11Onze community who have not yet registered on the platform can start buying or selling cryptocurrencies and add or withdraw money in any format in a very simple way.
As Blanch points out, ‘to get started, it is important to open an account through the 11Onze Recommends link, so you get €20 just for registering’. This link takes you directly to the Bitvavo website, where you can claim the €20 bonus and start the registration process.
Firstly, you will have to select your country and enter your first and last name, as well as your email address and password. You will then receive an email to confirm your email address.
With this done, you will be able to log in to Bitvavo. After answering a few questions, you will need to verify your identity and the bank account you want to link to the platform. From here you can start using the application. In the tutorial, Blanch also explains the basic operations you need to know and some of the more technical terms related to cryptocurrency trading.
11Onze Recommends Bitvavo, cryptocurrency trading made easy, safe and at a good value.
In an economic context of great uncertainty, inflation, and low-interest rates, guaranteed investment funds can be a good option for investors who want to diversify their savings and, at the same time, ensure a certain return on their investment.
As the name implies, guaranteed funds guarantee all or part of the capital invested, as well as a predetermined return over a period of time. This profitability is generally referenced to the evolution of a stock market index, such as Ibex-35, and will depend on certain previously established circumstances being met.
Therefore, it should be borne in mind that with the funds offered by Spanish banks, guaranteed returns are not always assured. The Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV) defines these products as funds that ensure that, at least at a certain future date, all or part of the initial investment will be preserved, and in some cases, they may also offer a certain guaranteed return.
Because of the low risk involved, these funds usually provide a low return and are intended for investors who do not want to worry about their money or investments, but are nevertheless a good alternative to fixed-term deposits.
Types of guaranteed investment funds
There are three different categories of guaranteed investment funds, depending on whether they guarantee the totality of the initial investment. Guaranteed fixed-income funds promise investors, as of the maturity date, the recovery of the initial capital and also a predetermined fixed return. These funds are particularly suited to investors with an investment horizon of between six months and three years, who value a high degree of stability for their investments at the expense of performance.
Guaranteed equity funds, on the other hand, only secure the initial investment as of the maturity date. In addition, they offer the possibility of returns linked to the performance of various financial assets or indexes. However, the investor has to bear in mind that if the performance is not as expected, the return may be zero.
There is a third category, partial guarantee funds, which, unlike the previous two, do not insure the entire initial investment, but a percentage, usually 90%. This higher risk is compensated by the possibility of a higher return on maturity, also linked to the evolution of equity instruments, currencies, or other assets.
Low-interest rates have popularised guaranteed equity or partial equity funds, which offer a good balance between security and profitability compared to more conservative funds, such as fixed-income funds, which are very safe but also offer very low profitability. But as always, before making an investment it is vital to assess the risk we are willing to take and to clearly define our investment objectives.
The question, therefore, is: is there any fund that generates high returns and guarantees 100% of the investment and returns?
If you want to know more about superior options to make your money profitable, go to Guaranteed Funds. From 11Onze Recomana we propose you the best options in the market.
It’s been a year since the launch of Litigation Funding, one of 11Onze Recommends’ flagship products that offers returns of between 9 and 11% by financing lawsuits against banks and institutions that have used illegal practices against their clients. How has it performed so far? Are our clients satisfied? Farhaan Mir, CTO of 11Onze, gives us an update.
In the inflationary economic environment we have experienced in recent years, people have not only seen their purchasing power eroded but have also experienced a loss in the value of their savings. It is in this context that Litigation Funding that 11Onze Recommends was born, to shield the savings of our community members against runaway inflation.
Litigation Funding offers returns ranging from 9% to 11%, depending on the amount contributed, financing the legal costs of law firms pursuing claims against banks and institutions that have used illegal practices against their clients. This social justice product offers high returns at very low risk. And that’s all well and good, but have these objectives been met a year after its launch?
A unique product in the market
As a general rule, investments that offer high returns come with high risk, while low-risk investments offer more stable, but potentially lower, returns.
This is not the case with Litigation Funding, as Farhaan Mir explains, “In this case, the risk is managed by an insurance that covers the clients’ capital“. Even so, in the first year, there has been a 100% success rate in the lawsuits, and it has not been necessary to use insurance.
A recurring investment
Perhaps the metric that most exemplifies the success and good performance of Litigation Funding is that almost 100% of clients have reinvested their money in the same product. “Clients are very happy with the returns and, apart from one person who needed the money for personal matters, everyone has reinvested their capital.”
Litigation Funding has been structured exclusively for members of the 11Onze community, offering two ways to participate: a product that returns your capital and possible profits after one year, or another option where your capital works for a few years and provides you with a monthly return after six months. As Mir points out, “The longer the period, the greater the returns for investors”.
Fund lawsuits against banks. Get justice and returns on your savings above inflation thanks to the compensation the banks will have to pay. All the information about Litigation Funding can be found at 11Onze Recommends.
Si hi ha un moment clau en la història d’Espanya, aquest és l’arribada a Amèrica i el posterior saqueig. Aquella riquesa va ser la llavor del que s’anomenaria Imperi Espanyol i que, tal com explica l’historiador d’11Onze Oriol Garcia Farré, no va ser res més que la presa de pèl a uns catalans.
Toni Mata, director de continguts i mitjans d’11Onze
El 12 d’octubre és la data preferida del nacionalisme espanyol. La celebren a mà alçada els feixistes a Montjuïc i rememora, amb nostàlgia, aquell Dia de la Raça de l’època franquista que, al seu torn, s’emmirallava en “el Imperio Español donde nunca se ponía el sol”. Quin mal de panxa els agafaria si sabessin que el ‘descobriment’ va ser cosa dels catalans. La cursiva de ‘descobriment’ es deu, efectivament, a què a les terres americanes ja hi vivia gent i que tant xinesos com vikings ja hi havien arribat. Però els espanyols van ser els que es van decidir a espoliar riqueses i esclavitzar indígenes. Per tant, en aquest sentit sí, la primícia és 100% europea. Des d’aleshores, aquests fets duen el malnom de “colonització”.
Colom era català? Va home, va
Però anem al que ens ocupa: si dieu en veu alta “Colom era català”, us caurà al damunt una allau de desqualificacions que us titllaran de fanàtic, il·luminat, supremacista o ves a saber què. I, per tal d’evitar el soroll, qualsevol català dirà “deixem-ho estar”. Ara bé, els historiadors tenen l’obligació d’analitzar els fets i això és el que hem demanat a l’historiador Oriol Garcia Farré. Mirant-ho amb una mica de detall, tal com podeu llegir en aquest article, costa de sostenir el relat espanyol.
Per què? Vegem-ho. El 1492 Espanya no existia. Era la unió de dues corones: la Corona de Castella i la Corona catalanoaragonesa. El tan estimat (a Espanya) Ferran el Catòlic, era el rei català, però això no vol dir que fos gaire estimat a Catalunya. Era de la família Trastàmara, que havia accedit al tron després de l’extinció del llinatge dels comtes de Barcelona amb la mort de Martí l’Humà, i que en aquella època tenia força contestació social a Catalunya. De fet, el pare de Ferran, Joan II d’Aragó, va protagonitzar la Guerra Civil catalana contra les institucions catalanes per obtenir el control polític. També es va enfrontar amb els pagesos, en les famoses guerres remences que encara recordem amb el crit de “Via fora!”.
Des d’aleshores no eren la dinastia més estimada de la història de Catalunya. És més, el 7 de desembre de 1492, al Palau Reial de Barcelona un remença del Maresme va intentar assassinar Ferran el Catòlic. El magnicidi va estar a punt de culminar-se, i, si hi voleu aprofundir, ho podeu fer amb aquest capítol d’El Lloc dels Fets que vaig escriure fa uns anys per TV3.
Per tant, el casament de Ferran el Catòlic amb Isabel de Castella era pels Trastàmara, allò que ara diuen els ‘influencers’, escriptors o cantants catalans que treballen en castellà: buscaven més públic. L’ampliació de la corona cap a Castella era la millor opció per mantenir-se en el poder, per als Trastàmara. I un bon dia, un senyor anomenat Cristòfor Colom els proposa una idea boja: anar a descobrir les terres de l’altre cantó de l’oceà Atlàntic. Com sabem que aquesta era una empresa catalana? Fent servir les dades i la lògica.
D’una banda, la Corona catalanoaragonesa era una potència naval, mentre que a Castella no devien saber ni si la mar era salada. Penseu que estem al segle XV i que les distàncies no eren les mateixes. Catalunya, en canvi, havia dominat el Mediterrani i havia impulsat el Llibre del Consolat de Mar, que regulava el dret marítim internacional des del segle XIV.
Però si anem als fets, la cosa és encara pitjor. En la comptabilitat de la corona castellana de l’època no hi consta cap inversió per l’expedició de Colom. Recordem que es tracta de dues corones i només consten pagaments en ducats, que és la moneda que s’utilitzava a la Corona catalanoaragonesa. Què ens diu això? Ras i curt que l’expedició la van pagar els catalans. I si la van pagar és perquè tenien experiència en el comerç marítim i confiaven que aquell tal Colom duria riqueses. Per cert, Colón costa força de trobar com a cognom espanyol. Sembla, més aviat, una apropiació castellana. De fet, el mateix que va passar amb tot el que va comportar el ‘descobriment’ d’Amèrica.
Quan a Castella es van adonar que el negoci era massa lucratiu per deixar-lo en mans catalanes, van canviar els acords amb Colom, el van acusar de traïció (sedició no era un terme utilitzat a l’època!) i la família va caure en desgràcia. Vaja, que tot plegat havia de servir a la glòria d’Espanya. Això explica també la destrucció de documentació de tots aquells fets. Resulta evident que es va voler esborrar la petjada catalana de la més gran fita espanyola de tota la història.
Colom potser va ser, doncs, el primer català entabanat pel projecte espanyol. S’encetava així la tradició catalana de contribuir al projecte espanyol, quedar-ne apartat de les bones notícies i maleir-se per haver-hi contribuït. Una tradició que ha seguit vigent fins als nostres dies amb una bonhomia aclaparadora.
No m’ho acabo de creure
És normal no creure’s aquesta història perquè estem tan avesats a la història oficial (adoctrinats, se’n diu), que l’impuls és pensar que tot plegat és una invenció. Però cal fer revisar els fets de manera crítica i tan freda com sigui possible. Quin port tenia Palos de la Frontera al segle XIV? I quin port tenia Pals a la mateixa època? És important informar-se, veure els estudis de restes arqueològiques i lligar caps. I els famosos germans Pinçon? Valencians que tenien els seus negocis a terres gironines, molt a prop de Pals. En propers articles, l’Oriol Garcia aprofundirà sobre aquestes proves esborrades per la historiografia espanyola. La veritat, però, sembla òbvia. La presa de pèl potser va començar el 1492.
11Onze és la fintech comunitària de Catalunya. Obre un compte descarregant la super app El Canut per Android o iOS. Uneix-te a la revolució!
We continue our approach to the history of contemporary women. In this case, we do so by recalling the figure of Carme Karr, who embodied progressive feminism between the 19th and 20th centuries and played a key role in the establishment of universal women’s suffrage.
History has been written by men. For centuries, the male gender has constructed a narrative around its deeds – mainly in the public sphere – and has minimised or ignored women’s contributions.
War, politics, diplomacy or management have built this reality. Therefore, the role given to women has been typically reserved for their gender: wife, mother, daughter, lover… To put it simply, the masculine vision has ended up imposing itself on the feminine reality.
Since ancient times, the sexual differentiation of work has led to a distribution of tasks according to sex, largely driven by biological characteristics. The evolution of societies based on this distinction would end up provoking a differentiated apprenticeship between women and men, which capitalism would transform into resounding inequality.
Voices of protest
At the same time, voices were raised that, through knowledge, ability, and intelligence, would energetically combat gender-based social injustice and express a clear desire to achieve full equality between men and women, even if it cost them their lives.
Catalan society at the beginning of the 20th century did not know how to handle the impact of the appearance of Carme Karr y Alfonsetti (1865-1943) on Barcelona’s intellectual scene. The fact that she was born in a bourgeois, cosmopolitan and European environment – together with her mastery of several languages – gave her a great breadth of vision.
History has recognised her as the country’s first regularly published journalist. She had gained experience on the staff of the magazines ‘Juventud’ and ‘El Adelanto’. But she is most widely known for her work as the head of the magazine ‘Feminal’.
A feminist megaphone
From this megaphone of gender freedom – created and designed for women – Karr would work intensely to elevate the intellect of the female readers who sat down to read at the recently created Biblioteca Popular de la Dona (Women’s Popular Library).
With countless top-level contributors and contributions from all over Europe, ‘Feminal’ acted to vigorously vindicate the role of women in society. The topics it covered were not usually trivial, but highlighted, above all, pervasive issues of common interest. The annals of journalism will remember the written confrontation between Carme Karr and Eugeni d’Ors in their debate on the intellectual capacity of women in tackling such “complex” cultural subjects as poetry, art, and music. No doubt about who got scalded!
It was through her writings that Karr projected a model of womanhood based on modernity and humanism. The key to her ideology hinged, firstly, on the acquisition of a female culture of her own, a basic factor for the progress of society. And then, in obtaining absolute recognition of all their rights.
Culture and feminism, together in public for the first time
It was on Wednesday 6 April 1910 that a woman was allowed to speak in public about culture and feminism for the first time. And it had even more merit to do so in front of an audience that was mainly male and not at all accustomed to listening to women, as was the Atenu Barcelonès at the beginning of the 20th century.
Today’s curiosity evokes the question of how those men must have felt when they heard from the mouth of a woman, and probably for the first time, the importance of normalising the world of women within their patriarchal society.
This discourse is widely remembered as it openly addressed the need to create institutions exclusively for women’s education. These centres of culture for women were to become the fundamental tool that would enable them to acquire the appropriate professional level and thus pave the way to full equality in the workplace.
In addition to the renaissance strategy, it was also necessary to work on the regulation of more gender-specific issues, such as mutual insurance companies to protect them during maternity or the creation of female labour exchanges.
Echoed in Madrid
It was a resounding success. The social impact of the conference was such that it had to be repeated on the following two Wednesdays: 13 and 20 April. But it didn’t stop there. The demands reached Madrid, in a letter sent to the Catalan Solidarity MP Francesc Macià. The future 122nd president of the Generalitat of Catalonia understood that this demand was legitimate and necessary to modernise Catalan society.
This was a turning point for Carme Karr. In the early 1920s, the journalist became an activist, and one of the first actions she undertook in this new phase was to promote the association Acció Femenina, which worked tirelessly to establish universal suffrage for women, among other actions.
The concept of universal women’s suffrage that Carme Karr defended was much closer to the British and American suffragettes than to the National Association of Spanish Women (ANME), which they considered too radical.
The 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition was a perfect megaphone for Catalonia and for Carme Karr to show the world that Catalan society was already modern. Carme Karr was entrusted with the direction of the Women’s Pavilion, the content of which was designed to break down the prejudices of the time about women.
A short-lived breakthrough
The Second Republic brought universal suffrage for women throughout the state. For the first time, women could vote. History had done justice after so many decades of effort and legitimate demands. In this way, conservative feminism, which argued that the social role of women had to focus on two areas: the family and religion, was imposed.
But the victory was short-lived. Carme Karr was deeply affected by the outbreak of the Civil War, the establishment of Franco’s regime, and the outbreak of the Second World War.
For an intelligent, freedom-loving, and absolutely pacifist person, it was difficult for her to understand how a gang of obtuse people were imposing by force, a model of women that forced them to return to their homes and be removed from public life. Seeing decades of effort vanish in an instant pushed her into a depressive abyss.
Thanks to the work of Carme Karr and her contemporaries, universal women’s suffrage became a reality throughout the state. That generation of women worked for the creation of a feminine consciousness that claimed the need to articulate a culture from the feminine self.
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Are you required to take home insurance in order to get a mortgage? The answer is yes. But that does not mean you must take it out with the bank that has granted you the mortgage. And if you have done so, you have the right to change it to any insurance company that offers you better conditions. We explain how to do it.
Traditionally, banks have taken advantage of the granting of a mortgage to force you to take out other products, especially home and life insurance, in most cases with uncompetitive conditions. Fortunately, the mortgage law of 2019 makes it clear that, although the financial entity can demand the contracting of home insurance, the client has the right to contract it with the company that offers the best conditions. And they can even change insurer if they wish to do so.
The only condition for changing is to wait for the annual expiry of the policy contracted with the bank. By giving formal notice two months before the expiry of the policy, the customer can indicate to the bank his or her decision not to renew the home insurance contract when it expires.
In addition, the user must present the bank with a copy of the new policy, which must include the assignment of rights corresponding to the capital that is still subject to mortgage. This is a formality that the new insurance company can help you to do correctly.
Linked interests
A thorny issue when changing insurance is usually the linking of the mortgage interest rate with the insurance contract with the bank. In fact, it is likely that the mortgage clauses contemplate a rise in the interest rate if the insurance is not taken out with the bank.
In this case, it is necessary to be careful not to lose out financially and to calculate how much we gain and how much we lose with the change. There can be a slight financial loss in the first years of the mortgage, when the part of the instalment corresponding to interest is very high and that of capital amortisation is very low. However, as the years go by, the impact of the interest rate becomes minimal because almost everything we pay is capital, so this coercive clause is no longer an impediment to changing the home insurance to another insurer.
Using a mortgage calculator, it is possible to find out the exact date when it is in our interest to change to another insurance company to get better conditions and price. The savings can be significant, more often than we thought so.
If you want to discover fair insurance for your home and for society, check 11Onze Segurs.
The unexpected appearance of DeepSeek’s open-source Chinese AI model is shaking up Silicon Valley and global markets. Launched on 20 January, it offers comparable performance to the OpenAI flagship at a fraction of the cost, using less advanced microchips.
The launch of DeepSeek’s new model, just as Donald Trump was sworn in as US president on January 20, was no coincidence. China was sending the message that, despite Washington’s restrictions on the export of next-generation microchips to curb the technological development and competitiveness of Chinese companies, Beijing can be the world leader in AI.
A day later, Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Larry Ellison, chairman of Oracle joined the new Trump administration as it announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence to outpace rival nations in this business-critical technology.
Impact on global stock markets
The White House announcement did not prevent the stock market plunge of companies such as Nvidia, one of the pillars of the technological revolution generated by AI and the main manufacturer of microchips in the supply of hardware for AI, which saw its shares fall by more than 15%, losing 589 billion dollars in a single day.
It was the biggest loss of value by a stock in the history of the stock market and relegated Nvidia to third place in the ranking, behind Apple and Microsoft.
Nvidia’s fall dragged down other technology giants and several companies linked to chips and semiconductors: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD -10.38%), Marvell (-19.11%), Broadcom (-17.40%) and Grail (-9.16%), Microsoft (-2.17). This turmoil also affected European stock markets, with significant falls in companies such as ASML (-8%), Schneider Electric (-10%) and Siemens (-5%).
Investors were concerned that DeepSeek’s innovative approach would lead to a collapse in demand for graphics processors and other components in data centres, which are essential for the development of AI.
A disruptive business model
One of the keys to the success of the Chinese AI model is the demonstration that the industry is capable of developing efficient and practical artificial intelligence without the need to rely on Nvidia’s advanced and expensive microchips. Thanks to Washington’s restrictions, the company was forced to use H800 model microchips, a less powerful version of those available to US companies.
In addition, DeepSeek claims that with its new technologies, it can reduce algorithm training costs by 75%, noting that it has invested only $7 million in developing its model, compared to the $50 million OpenAI has spent on ChatGPT. As a result, it can offer access to its interface for just $0.14 per million input tokens, far less than the $15 OpenAI charges for the same service.
The other pillar of DeepSeek’s success is its open-source approach, which allows any developer to modify and adapt the software to suit their needs. A business model that contrasts with the more restrictive uses that Western companies impose on their AI applications. It is therefore not surprising that, on Wednesday morning, DeepSeek became the most popular application overall, not just for AI, in the Apple and Google app shops.
DeepSeek’s breakthrough is proving that US technological hegemony in AI is no longer guaranteed. There is little doubt that sooner or later Washington will also impose bans and restrictions on this new Chinese competitor under the pretext of national security, as it has previously done with ZTE, Huawei and TikTok, but, ironically, the increasing aggressiveness of the US administration in the geopolitical framework to prevent the collapse of the empire is accelerating the development of technological, commercial and financial alternatives by other global players.
If you want to discover the best option to protect your savings, enter Preciosos 11Onze. We will help you buy at the best price the safe-haven asset par excellence: physical gold.
One of 11Onze Recommend’s star products generates high yields by financing the litigations of law firms that pursue claims from citizens who were misled by banks. You can now participate as a group, reducing the amount of capital contributed individually but keeping the percentage of the profits. Farhaan Mir, CFO of 11Onze, explains how it works.
The success of Litigation Funding comes from the concept of providing social justice while obtaining high returns with a low-risk product thanks to the insurance that covers the funds provided by the clients. Since its launch, we have been expanding its scope, while reducing the minimum amount of access capital.
From the minimum initial capital of 25,000 euros, we were able to get our provider to reduce it to 10,000 euros, making this product accessible to a larger number of people in the 11Onze community.
Obviously, the higher the amount of capital provided, the higher the returns. That is why, at the request of our community, we are now also offering the possibility of a group contribution, either among family or friends, so that the financing can be shared while maintaining the percentage of the profits.

“If you have two people who put in 25,000 euros each, this is considered a contribution of 50,000. And the two people get the benefits of the 50,000.”
Group contributions
Litigation Funding generates returns of between 9% and 11%, well above what traditional banks offer for our savings. Even so, not everyone can afford to make a capital contribution of 25,000 or 50,000 euros to obtain maximum returns. By offering the option to contribute money collectively, we multiply the benefits.
As Farhaan Mir explains, “If you have two people who put in 25,000 euros each, that’s considered a 50,000-euro contribution. And the two people get the benefits of the 50,000”. Therefore, instead of getting a return of 9%, which would correspond to 25,000 euros, you will generate profits of 10%, from a contribution of 50,000 euros.

“Any contribution against the cases we are funding is guaranteed. So we have full security for the funds we are providing to the law firm.”
Unfavourable cases covered by insurance
The success rate of the cases to which Litigation Funding has provided funds exceeds 90%. Even so, if there is an unfavourable case, the funds contributed by our clients are covered by insurance, regardless of the amount contributed.
It is therefore a low-risk product. “Any contribution against the cases we are funding is guaranteed. So we have full security for the funds we are providing to the law firm,” says Mir.
If you want to find out how to get returns on your savings with a social justice product, 11Onze recommends Litigation Funding.
11Onze Podcast launches a series of chapters to find out all about banking abuses, conversations with Arcadi Sala-Planell, Head of Legal at 11Onze. First chapter: les comissions.
“All traditional banks have jumped on the commissions’ bandwagon to make money, because banks can’t survive”, explains Sala-Planell in the first chapter of Abusos Bancaris. In several chapters, the lawyer will go through the abuses most commonly suffered by users of the banking system, in conversation with the Head of Contents of 11Onze Toni Mata.
“Banking commissions are regulated, but in practice financial institutions bypass this regulation“, says Sala-Planell, who recommends checking on the Bank of Spain’s website whether the commissions are irregular or not. “The banks abuse people because they know they won’t go to court for a commission,” says the CLO of 11Onze.
More 11Onze Podcast
In addition to the chapters on banking abuses, 11Onze Podcast will increase its content offering. It will do so with conversations on topics of interest around the world of money that will feature 11Onze agents and some of its managers.
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Gold is certainly not from this planet. Scientists agree that it was brought to Earth by a meteor shower. Its origin may lie in the explosion of a supernova or the collision of two neutron stars.
Gold as we know it is too precious a mineral to have an ordinary origin. In fact, it comes from something as bright as stars and arrived on Earth about four billion years ago, long after the formation of our planet’s core.
In its early days, some 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was basically a ball of magma. During the cooling process, the denser materials sank towards the centre. As a result, they were drawn into the core, which is composed mainly of iron, most of the heavier metals.
This is why the large amount of gold and other precious metals in the Earth’s mantle today is not understood. Several scientific investigations have concluded that the presence of this gold can only be explained by the impact of meteorites loaded with gold and other precious metals.
One study, published in the journal ‘Nature’, estimates that the meteorite storm may have brought some 20 trillion tonnes of material to Earth. And another study, published in the journal ‘Science’, considers that our planet would not have been the only recipient of these minerals, as they would also have reached Mars and the Moon similarly.
Where did the gold come from?
Scientists believe that gold, like most elements heavier than iron, is produced by both supernova nucleosynthesis and the collision of neutron stars. But it is not known which of these two processes originated the gold that we can currently extract from the Earth’s mantle.
Nuclear fusion processes are constantly taking place inside stars. The most abundant and simplest element is hydrogen, whose atoms contain one electron and one neutron. When two of these atoms fuse together under pressure and gravity, a helium atom is produced. In turn, the fusion of helium produces lithium. And the fusion processes continue until iron is produced, which begins to form when there is no more fuel left in the star to fuse.
Supernovae are massive stars that can no longer develop thermonuclear reactions in their core. The pressure causes them to suddenly contract and collapse. It is in this process that many scientists think that heavy materials such as gold are formed, although some astrophysicists doubt that the neutron flux inside the supernova is sufficient to create the necessary amount of heavy elements.
The other possible origin for our gold would be a collision of neutron stars, which form after the collapse of supernovae. Very recently, on 17 August 2017, one such cataclysmic event was detected. It is estimated that two neutron stars of only about ten kilometres in diameter collided, containing as much matter as the Sun.
Scientists believe that such an event could have generated as much gold as the mass of the Earth. This requires iron to be in a very neutron-rich environment in order to capture neutrons very quickly. As some of these neutrons undergo rapid radioactive decay and are converted into protons, iron, which has 26 protons and 30 neutrons, can be transformed into gold, which has 79 protons and 118 neutrons.
Gold precipitation
According to the main theories, the great meteorite shower with the precious metals caused an upheaval of the Earth’s mantle, which eventually led to the appearance of the deposits of these minerals. The asteroids would have been introduced into the Earth’s mantle by massive convection processes.
Gold is mainly found in areas with seismic or volcanic activity, which brings the gold to the surface. During earthquakes, variations in pressure along the fault can cause water in the rock to evaporate rapidly. And substances that dissolve in the water, such as gold and silicates, later precipitate on the surface. In the case of volcanoes, many minerals found in deeper layers of the earth’s mantle are ejected during eruptions, and one of them is gold.
Although gold can be found all over the world, the geographical distribution is very uneven. The United States, Canada, Australia, China, Russia and South Africa are the countries with the highest concentration of this precious metal.
The first chapter of the series The Golden Thread, which deals with the importance that gold has in different areas of our lives, focuses on the fundamental role that this precious metal has played in the exploration of space.
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