What's the deal with Red Dead Redemption 2's microtransactions?

Red Dead Online, the multiplayer accompaniment to Red Dead Redemption 2, is finally live, and - surprise! - it's a lot like Grand Theft Auto Online. Which means one thing - microtransactions!

Or at least it will have them, anyway. Red Dead Online is still in beta, and will remain that way for the near future as Rockstar makes sure everything's in some working order before switching on certain features. Features such as microtransactions, which here take the form of Gold Bars, are not yet enabled - perhaps to sidestep the exploits which plagued the early days of GTA Online - meaning the deal with them right now is that simply they don't exist.

But we have some idea of how they will work when the feature is turned on. There's some confusion about exactly how they fit into Red Dead Online's economy, and a fair bit of misinformation being passed around, so here's what we've gleaned from what is actually in the beta right now.

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