Making Gold Money Again
Your money should be a store of value. Yet the dollar has lost 87% of its value since 1971 with no relief in sight. Now, five states are doing something about it, enacting Constitutional gold money.
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NOTE: My friend Kevin Freeman has pioneered what may be the most creative, most beneficial innovation in monetary policy in memory. His idea has a lot of fathers — I am one of them — but he stands far above the rest. His book Pirate Money is a must-read, as is George Gilder’s Life After Capitalism. This is just the beginning. — RDM
by Kevin D. Freeman and Rod D. Martin
August 2, 2025
This legislative session, five states made gold legal tender again: money, not just bullion. No, you won’t be making change for gold bars at Walmart: you’ll use debit cards, credit cards, and apps to spend (and be paid in) whatever fraction of those bars you need.
Oh, and your card or app will convert your currency on the fly, in the background, just like it currently converts dollars to yen or pounds to euros. Re-monetized gold will become globally useful through the already-existing magic of MasterCard.
It’s just another way to pay. And to be paid.
But it’s also a way for real people to hold real value in their money. Since 1971, the dollar has lost 87% of its value. Gold hasn’t lost a bit: arguably it’s gained a little. If you’d used gold to buy a nice suit in 1825, 1925, or 2025, the amount needed would be almost identical.
Inflation is the cruelest tax of all, because the wealthy can compensate for it through investments, but the poor have no options at all. Scripture commands “honest weights and measures” in part for this exact reason. Those living paycheck to paycheck pay the price for out-of-control monetary policy, untethered from anything real.
These five states are doing something about it. Using a barely-remembered Constitutional provision in Article 1, Section 10, they are issuing electronic currency 100% backed by gold (and silver). In order of passage, they are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Missouri. Together, they represent $5.25 trillion in combined GDP, which would rank third as a nation behind only the U.S. as a whole and China, well ahead of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and India.
Having a currency that doesn’t lose its value, that’s based on something real that you actually own, and that’s electronically interoperable with the dollar and every other global currency, is an economic earthquake. There’s a golden tsunami coming, in which (as Rod Martin has said) “Gresham’s Law will be inverted: good money will drive out bad.”
It’s not just coming. It’s here, legally. Implementation is next.
Gold as Money in America, Then and Now
Imagine going to your favorite restaurant and paying for your meal using a real gold debit card. No, not the “gold card” that your credit card company issues, but a debit card accepted everywhere that pays for goods and services using precious metals —transactional gold (or silver).
It sounds like science fiction, but it is already being done, using gold and silver stored in Switzerland through commercial platforms — apps — such as Glint from the UK. Transactional gold is not a central bank digital currency (CBDC), with all their privacy and control concerns: indeed, it may be their antidote.
Transactional gold is not at risk of being devalued by irresponsible Washington spending or targeted attacks from China or Russia. Rather, transactional gold is a way for every American to protect their finances by keeping more of what they earn. After all, money is power - purchasing power.
While the U.S. dollar has been reasonably stable compared to other currencies in the world, it has lost nearly 90% of its value in the last 54 years (since 1971).1,2 That’s terrible. But it was predicted long ago by our Founding Fathers.
George Washington wrote, “Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice.” Thomas Jefferson said, “Paper is poverty. It is only the ghost of money, and not money itself.”3 Alexander Hamilton, the man who spent his entire life arguing for the creation of an American central bank, nevertheless stated, “unfunded (not backed by gold or silver) paper (money) should not be a formal part of the Constitution or used as a substitute for money.”4 James Madison strictly supported making specie (gold and silver coins) the only legal tender for payment of debts. He declared fiat money to be “unjust” and “unconstitutional”.5
America’s Founding Fathers feared fiat money — currency backed by nothing more than a government’s promise. To them, currency was a tool to be used for the benefit of a civilized society, which required a safe and secure system people could trust. It was clear that the country they were building would need a currency, but such a currency must be properly organized and maintained to protect its value and to protect the people from a government that could use it to control them.
For this reason, the first U.S. dollar and monetary system were initially based on the then-popular coins, the Spanish milled dollar (aka, a silver “piece of eight”), and the Spanish gold doubloon.6 Eventually, we minted our own coins but still used Spanish coins until 1857 and afterward generally maintained gold and silver backing of our money.7,8
But in 1971, everything changed. President Nixon closed the gold window.9 He said it was “temporary,” but as Milton Friedman famously quipped, “there’s nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.”10 Under President Nixon, the U.S. dollar became a fully fiat currency: its value is determined entirely by popular opinion and “backed by the full faith and credit” of the United States government. It has remained that way ever since, and the point of no return has long since passed.
What has been the result? From 1971 to the present, the dollar has lost 87% of its purchasing power. What used to cost a dime now costs a dollar or more. It takes a $100 bill to purchase what could be had for $10 or less. The sad truth is that if the average American’s salary had been paid in gold, their annual income would have maintained or gained buying power over those same years. Instead, being paid in U.S. Dollars has meant that the buying power of American citizens has declined, even as the average income has increased.
With the dollar no longer tied to a gold standard, the Federal Reserve, on behalf of the U.S. government, began to do what it does best: create more money. Not in the literal sense of printing dollar bills in the basement. It’s much easier than that these days. With the push of a button, digital money is created.
Normally, this isn’t all that noticeable, despite its horrifying accumulation over time. From 1983-2019, the average annual inflation rate was 2.6%. That slow enough for wages to mostly keep up, and everyone just adjusts to the slowly but ever-increasing prices.
Even then, the dollar has lost 87% of its value in our lifetimes. Even if people’s wages kept up, their savings did not. And they lost even more if they held their money outside the banking system (which is one of the purposes of this inherently dishonest monetary system).
Bidenflation
Of course, every so often Americans elect a Jimmy Carter or a Joe Biden. And then, such little monetary stability as exists goes out the window.
With the U.S. dollar facing rapid inflation and the Federal Reserve continuing to create money for an overreaching government that continues to expand without the slightest concern for balanced budgets or fiscal restraint, Americans face massive hits to their purchasing power. The U.S. government debt now exceeds $37 trillion, up more than $5 trillion in just the past two years. That’s twice the already-high debt of ten years ago, and more than six times its level in the year 2000. This is unsustainable.11
The damage caused by devaluation resulting from excessive printing and federal government spending is not the only threat to the American people. Globalist elites are using the declining buying power of the American people to strip them of the ability to resist. With less money, people are less capable of providing for their own needs, and more people are becoming dependent on the government. The coup de grâce is the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which would give the elites control over every aspect of life by controlling every cent that people have or spend. It would be debanking but at both the macro and micro (per-purchase) levels.
The global plan to create a CBDC is well underway and is endorsed by official authorities, such as the International Monetary Fund, and unofficial, such as the World Economic Forum. Fully 137 countries, representing 98% of the world’s GDP, are exploring or have started CBDC programs.12 For many people, this will be a reality very soon.
President Biden’s alarming Executive Order 14067 issued on March 9, 2022, began with “By the authority vested in me as president by the Constitutional laws of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows.”13 Biden’s order is aimed at developing a digital assets policy plan, organizing federal regulators’ efforts towards that end, and asking for more work to be done into developing a United States CBDC — literally electronic money made from thin air that the government can control. Fortunately, President Trump offered a temporary reprieve with an Executive Order on January 23.14 The Republican House passed a permanent ban last month; it goes to the Senate attached to the National Defense Authorization Act to ensure passage.
But Congresses and Presidents change. Our ultimate answer to the rise of a CBDC lies entirely in our ability to create an alternative system.
In the Economic War Room, we developed a big idea Kevin had (starting at age 10) regarding how to save America and provide an alternative currency that is legal tender in the United States and 100% backed by precious metals: gold and silver. Kevin outlined this in a book titled Pirate Money.15
This began as an idea (debated and refined with amazing people), was written in a book, and then became a movement. Incredible people came alongside to educate lawmakers who then sponsored bills in nearly half our states.16 These included the Economic War Room and Pirate Money Radio partners and team, my family and extended family, national and grassroots organizations, and patriotic volunteer citizens.17,18
After a grueling legislative season, our tenacious team saw victory, passing bills into law in five states (so far as of July 2025).19,20 These five (in order of passage) are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Missouri. Together, they represent $5.25 trillion in combined GDP, which would rank third as a nation behind only the U.S. as a whole and China, well ahead of Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and India.21
Gold has been used as money for thousands of years. The use of gold and silver in a monetary role goes back before Plato, back even before the invention of writing.22 Milton Friedman said gold could be money, of course, because “money is what money does,” meaning if it’s used for currency, it is currency.23
But the truly important thing about gold as money is that it holds its value over long stretches of time, making it an honest weight and measure, like a meter or a yard rather than a fluxuating commodity.
Obstacles Overcome
The use of gold as currency has many other advantages, including its long history of acceptance, limited supply, and natural privacy. But it has several disadvantages too. Physical gold is hard to carry. It’s not easily divisible. You can’t just scrape off a few flakes and buy a cup of coffee. And it is expensive to store. That’s exactly why (before 1971) paper money was explicitly a promissory note for a specified amount of gold: paper was easier to carry.
But we have something available to us today that changes everything about using precious metals as currency: the debit card payment system. By using existing debit card technology, Americans can make everyday purchases or pay bills with gold or silver.24 Everyone can participate if they wish: Left, Right, Center, Wealthy, Poor. Depending on the enabling legislation, a state could earn a portion of the standard fees already paid by merchants for debit or credit cards without any additional cost to consumers.
Back in 2011, Utah led the charge with the Utah Legal Tender Act.25 The passing of this bill into law paved the way for many other U.S. states to adopt similar legislation over the next few years. Unfortunately, the silver rounds they produced were considered collectibles by the IRS, not as useful money, and were thus subject to federal capital gains taxation.26 Bitcoin faces the same problem — capital gains tax on the medium of exchange itself, not just the object purchased — becuase while it is useful as money, it is not legal tender.
With our new approach, however, gold and silver will not only function as money, but will also be free from the IRS classification of a collectible or commodity: it meets both IRS tests, and is authorized by the United States Constitution and a significant body of Supreme Court case law. This will prove revolutionary, removing a key hindrance to adoption.27
Smaller and mid-sized banks are listening. They know that the global banks are coming for them, and if the CBDC goes through, they’re finished. That is a key reason that many local and regional banks are in favor of transactional gold.
So how would it work? The same way as Glint: with physical gold stored in an officially-designated depository that keeps an electronic ledger — in real time — of who owns what.
Texas already has it’s own depository, the Texas Bullion Depository.28 (Rod jokes that this is personally guarded by Chuck Norris). Adding a debit card technology on top simply provides people functional access to what they already own. The depository will be able to offer, Constitutionally, Texas-based money held 100% in gold and silver.
This isn’t some fringe thing either. Nearly 1.6 million Texans (76.5%) voted in favor of this in a 2024 election.
Furthermore, state chartered banks could offer either “paper accounts” based on the U.S. dollar or gold and silver accounts (based on Texas Transactional Gold and Silver). We believe many banks will want to offer both.
Again, all of this would be interesting but unuseful if you couldn’t pay merchants who charge you in dollars. But your card or app will convert your currency on the fly, in the background, just like it currently converts dollars to yen or pounds to euros. Re-monetized gold will become globally useful through the already-existing magic of MasterCard.
A New Beginning
The U.S. Dollar has plummeted in buying power since the 1970s. That loss was entirely predictable, and yet the scale is still breathtaking.
Gold, on the other hand, has maintained its value and in some cases has even increased. Every American, regardless of economic class, deserves the option to have money held in precious metals as a protection against inflation. But the poorest need that option more than most, which means the current system punishes them more than most.
If the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, our broken monetary system is a large part of why.
State-backed transactional gold and silver offers a widely decentralized solution, giving privacy back to the individual. Constitutionally, it cannot become fiat: only gold and silver are authorized by Article 1, Section 10. Precious metals hold their value, and with current technology, can allow individuals to use a Constitutional state-issued electronic currency, 100% backed by gold or silver, to make everyday purchases. They’ll also be able to be paid: receiving salaries in gold will transform the fortunes of countless Americans.
This revolution will provide economic justice, for the first time since 1971, to people too poor to buy gold, silver, or other investment vehicles. Florida’s Governor DeSantis went even further, stating that making gold and silver legal tender will enable Floridians to enjoy genuine financial sovereignty.
With these new laws, families will be able to hold their emergency savings in transactional gold or silver, giving them a hedge against inflation — greater real purchasing power over time — as well as the essential convenience of immediate access through cards and apps.
George Gilder makes the insightful point that money is tokenized time: it represents a specific amount of time you worked, stored for later use. It shouldn’t change in value: that’s theft, at a systemic level. It’s what the Bible calls “oppression”.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The Founding Fathers gave us a way out. Technology makes it simple. Courageous state leaders are flipping the switch.
Economic justice is possible. It starts with honest money. This is the way.
— Kevin D. Freeman is host of Economic War Room, a New York Times bestselling author of numerous books (including Pirate Money), and CEO of Freeman Global Holdings. Rod D. Martin is Founder and CEO of Martin Capital and The Rod Martin Report, and was an early member of the “PayPal Mafia”.
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I applaud the enactment of these laws, and I'm pleased that my state and its governor (Ron DeSantis of Florida) are among the "plankowners." :-) Looking at a map, if we could add Alabama and Mississippi to the mix, we'd have the makings of a tidy little "Gulf Republic"! :-)
That said, I'd like to add a few thoughts.
First and foremost, money is primarily a means of exchange, not a store of value: fairy tales to the contrary notwithstanding, none of us is Scrooge McDuck, literally swimming in his gold-filled vault, nor Smaug the Dragon, ditto :-)
Here is the question I ask my prepper friends about all that gold they've bought and carefully stored: when the apocalypse comes, how do you plan to use all those gold coins or gold bars or whatever in a transaction? "Hey friend, I see you've got some cabbages (or goats, or whatever). I'd like to trade some of this shiny metal for some of them!" "..."
You see the problem: the core of commerce is that you have to have something to exchange that has value to the other person in the transaction. When we're reduced to squabbling over rusty cans of beans at the wreck of the supermarket, it's doubtful gold will figure into the equation.
The truth, as I advise them, is that in prepping for Mad Max, it would be best to use that money you've invested in gold to buy something that will be of value when global commerce collapses. It would be best if it were cheap to buy now, have a long shelf life, and be volumetrically efficient. My recommendation: spices, which in the middle ages and the early modern period were literally worth their weight in gold.
But perhaps this isn't in support of a catastrophic collapse. If we're worried about digital currency and de facto global debanking...how will those places in Switzerland help? Won't the United Nations of Globaloney just make those transactions illegal...as FDR did in the US after he took office? I note that you glossed over that part: Nixon's not the bad guy here...FDR is. He made it illegal for private citizens to own gold (or use it to perform transactions, obviously).
Also, note that there is a huge (YUUUGE) difference between a commodity-backed currency, which is what you're describing, and an actual specie-based currency. The only helpful aspect of gold-backed currency is that it (theoretically) restrains the government from flooding the zone ad libendum: but it can only do that if the underlying asset is limited, like gold...and if the government restrains itself from ignoring the limitations it's accepted...as both the Union and Confederate governments did during the Civil War (see: greenbacks).
Even a specie-based currency is no panacea: look at what happened during the 49er gold rush. Or--more spectacularly and catastrophically--what happened when the Spaniards began extracting literal mountains of gold from the Americas. And of course there was the debate over gold versus silver as backing for the currency, a debate sparked by the government (incorrectly) pegging the gold-to-silver exchange rate and thus instancing Gresham's Law.
Again...I am not pooh-poohing the idea of a commodity-backed currency. I just think it needs a bit of perspective.