The Rise and Fall of Gold-Backed Systems Gold was money for thousands of years, universally accepted because of its scarcity and durability. However, as global trade developed, the world ran into gold’s main limitation – physical gold couldn’t keep up with trade. This led to gold being replaced by gold-backed currencies, which combined gold reliability with the convenience of paper money. Yet, this hybrid system inherited gold’s flaws while introducing its own. Gold’s supply uncertainty remained a major weakness. Sudden discoveries, like Spain’s conquest of South America or the California Gold Rush, destabilized economies by flooding markets with new gold. Worse, gold-backed systems led to the centralization of reserves, concentrating power in the hands of governments and banks. This led to the inevitable corruption and mismanagement of the money supply, which quickly became inflated at the expense of holders of gold-backed currencies. The step towards full fiat was a small one after this…

Gold-backed systems centralized gold in the hands of banks and governments, creating single points of failure. Corruption and mismanagement were inevitable. Bitcoin solved this.

Gold’s supply has always been uncertain. Sudden discoveries—like Spain conquering South America or the California Gold Rush—flooded markets and destabilised economies. Bitcoin’s 21 million hard cap solves this once and for all.

Gold-backed currencies tried to solve gold’s limitations by pairing its stability with paper’s convenience. Instead, they inherited gold’s flaws and created new ones: supply uncertainty, centralization, and the inevitable corruption.

How Bitcoin Will Undermine Trust in Gold-Backed Systems Fiat has entered its final phase, falling victim to its inherent flaws. Decades of money printing, unchecked government spending and the Cantillion effect (those closest to the money printer benefit at the behest of the rest of us) are finally taking its toll. As calls for a return to hard money grow louder, it is only the most astute Cantillion economists (and their government backers) who believe money supply should be managed by “a council of wise (wo)men”. Among those seeking hard money are the BRICS nations, who are looking into creating a gold-backed system to challenge the fiat dollar’s dominance. This would have been a great idea, were it not for Bitcoin. With the existence of Bitcoin any attempt to create gold-backed systems is doomed from the start.

Gold was money for thousands of years because of its scarcity and durability. But as global trade grew, gold’s limitations became clear—it couldn’t keep up with the pace of commerce. Enter gold-backed currencies… and the beginning of gold’s downfall.

BRICS nations think a gold-backed system is the solution to the dollar’s dominance. Would have been a great idea…if Bitcoin didn’t exist. Now it is 100% doomed to fail.

Endless money printing, reckless government spending, and the Cantillon Effect enriching a few while impoverishing the rest. Time for hard money again, but let’s be clear: the only answer is Bitcoin.

Neutral Money for a Fractured Nation Syria’s fragmentation into enclaves controlled by competing ethnic militias creates barriers to trade and cooperation. Each faction has its own priorities, and foreign backers, making the use of politically-aligned fiat currencies problematic. Bitcoin is perfect in this environment. Unlike national currencies, Bitcoin is not tied to any group, ideology, or external sponsor. It allows families to trade without relying on the approval of any faction.

Cross-border Bitcoin transactions enable financial aid to war torn regions