Here is an idea that people might like. What if you were allowed to give gold items to other members? You could give your friends gold items as presents, and high level members who had low gold items could then give them to other members as they saw fit. That way they would still get utility from low crate items etc or people could trade one good gold item for several lower items.
The admin might be a PITA. Maybe restrict how often you could trade.
Thoughts?