A plain-language answer to one of the most common TGS misconceptions -- and the important distinction between personal and national gold standards.
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Positioning statement Transactional Gold and Silver (TGS) allows ordinary Americans to own real gold and silver -- held in a secure vault within the United States, in their name -- and spend it anywhere using a debit card, while merchants receive ordinary U.S. dollars. Transactional Gold and Silver does not replace the dollar. It is not cryptocurrency. It is not a central bank digital currency. It is not a government mandate. It is “Just Another Way to Pay.” |
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Direct answer No, not in the national policy sense. A gold standard is a monetary system in which a government fixes its currency's value to a specific weight of gold and stands ready to exchange currency for gold on demand. TGS does not do any of those things. It does not fix the dollar's value to gold; it does not obligate the government to redeem anything, and it does not replace the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. What TGS does is give individual citizens the voluntary option to hold and spend gold alongside the dollar, which is sometimes called a personal gold standard, but is categorically different from a national monetary system. Plain-English summary: A national gold standard is a government policy decision that changes how the entire economy works. TGS is a personal financial option that changes how one citizen manages their own savings. The government stays on the dollar. You get to choose gold. Those are very different things. |
Is TGS a gold standard?
The question comes up constantly, in legislative hearings, in media coverage, and in skeptical conversations about TGS, and it deserves a precise answer. A classical gold standard is a specific monetary arrangement: the government defines its currency unit as a fixed weight of gold, stands ready to exchange currency for gold at that fixed rate on demand, and limits money creation to the amount of gold it holds. The United States operated on versions of the gold standard until 1971. TGS does not restore any version of that system.
TGS legislation does not fix the dollar's value to gold. It does not require the Federal Reserve to hold gold reserves. It does not obligate any government entity to redeem dollars for gold. It does not limit the money supply to any gold-backed amount. It does not alter the dollar's status as legal tender. Every one of these things would be true if TGS were restoring a gold standard. None of them is true. TGS is a voluntary payment framework, not a monetary policy change.
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Characteristic |
Column 2 |
TGS |
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Who decides |
Government policy -- fixed exchange rate between currency and gold |
Individual citizen -- voluntary account, voluntary use |
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Effect on the dollar |
Dollar value tied to gold; money supply constrained |
Dollar unchanged; Federal Reserve monetary policy unchanged |
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Government obligation |
Government must redeem currency for gold on demand |
No government obligation of any kind |
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Participation |
Universal, entire economy operates under the standard |
Entirely voluntary, citizen chooses to open an account or not |
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Who controls gold |
Government holds reserves backing the currency |
Individual account holder owns their Allocated Specie |
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Historical examples |
U.S. 1879-1933, UK pre-WWI, Bretton Woods 1944-1971 |
TGS accounts in Arkansas, Florida, Texas, 2015-present |
What is a personal gold standard, and is TGS one?
The phrase 'personal gold standard' is sometimes used to describe what TGS does at the individual level, and it is a useful description as long as the distinction from national policy is clear. When a citizen opens a TGS account and holds Allocated Specie, they are personally opting their own savings out of dollar-denominated purchasing power erosion. Their savings are anchored to a commodity whose supply grows at roughly 1-2% per year rather than to a currency whose supply can be expanded by policy decision. In that specific personal sense, savings held in gold, accessed through a debit card, TGS is a personal gold standard.
Blog 33 of the TGS Answer Library ('Put yourself on your own gold standard') develops this personal framing in detail. The key is that the personal gold standard is a voluntary individual choice, not a macroeconomic policy affecting anyone who did not choose it. A citizen in Arkansas who opens a TGS account has not changed anything about how their neighbor's dollar savings work. They have only changed how their own savings are denominated.
Why does the distinction matter for legislators and advocates?
Although it is not a common objection, TGS is occasionally characterized as an effort to “bring back the gold standard” or restore it “through the back door.” The comparison is sometimes used to dismiss the legislation as a fringe monetary idea rather than engage with what the bill actually does. That characterization is misleading. Transactional Gold and Silver does not attempt to recreate the historical gold standard. It does not fix the value of the dollar to gold, require the government to redeem currency for gold, restrict the issuance of dollars, or require anyone to use gold or silver.
Instead, TGS creates a voluntary framework that allows individuals who choose to own allocated physical gold or silver to use that property as money in everyday transactions. It operates alongside the existing dollar-based monetary system rather than replacing it. That distinction is especially important when the “gold standard” label is used to suggest that TGS would constrain federal monetary policy, destabilize the banking system, or impose a new monetary regime on citizens. Those claims describe consequences associated with an entirely different monetary structure—not with a voluntary transactional gold and silver system.
The legislative answer can therefore be straightforward: TGS is not a proposal to put America back on the gold standard. It is a proposal to give citizens another way to pay. The Act reinforces that distinction through its voluntary-use provision. Section 308 states that nothing in the Act requires any person to acquire, own, accept, transfer, or use Transactional Gold and Silver. Participation is a choice.
That is fundamentally different from a gold standard. Under a gold-standard monetary system, the relationship between the national currency and gold was a feature of the monetary system itself. TGS does not change that system. It simply makes gold and silver more functional for people who voluntarily choose to use them.
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The one-sentence legislative answer TGS is not a gold standard because it does not fix the dollar's value to gold, does not obligate the government to redeem currency for gold, and does not require anyone to participate. It is a voluntary individual payment option that exists alongside the dollar, not instead of it. |
What is the most common misunderstanding?
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Common misunderstanding TGS is a backdoor attempt to restore the gold standard and constrain Federal Reserve monetary policy. |
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The reality TGS does not fix exchange rates, does not create government redemption obligations, does not alter Federal Reserve authority, and does not require any citizen to participate. The gold standard was a government monetary policy affecting everyone. TGS is a voluntary individual payment option affecting only those who choose it. Section 308 of the TGS Act explicitly states that nothing in the Act requires any person to acquire, own, accept, or use TGS. |
References
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Citations -- required for publication Section 308, Transactional Gold and Silver Act Working Draft No. 11 Section 309 -- Relationship to U.S. Currency, TGS Act Draft No. 11 Arkansas HB 1918 | arkleg.state.ar.us Florida HB 999 | flsenate.gov Federal Reserve -- monetary policy framework | federalreserve.gov |
Related questions
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Related questions, with direct 2-sentence answers Is TGS trying to replace the dollar? No. Every TGS transaction settles in U.S. dollars at the merchant. The dollar remains the unit of account and medium of exchange at every checkout register. TGS adds a payment option -- it does not remove or replace the dollar. -> Is TGS trying to replace the dollar?, /blog/is-transactional-gold-trying-to-replace-the-dollar/ Is TGS mandatory? No. Section 308 of the TGS Act explicitly states that nothing in the Act requires any person to acquire, own, accept, transfer, or use Transactional Gold and Silver. Participation is entirely voluntary for consumers, merchants, and financial institutions. -> Is TGS mandatory?, /blog/is-transactional-gold-and-silver-mandatory/ Put yourself on your own gold standard A personal gold standard is the individual's voluntary choice to hold savings in gold, completely different from a national monetary policy. TGS makes that personal choice practical through a debit card and state-authorized custody. -> Put yourself on your own gold standard, /blog/put-yourself-on-your-own-gold-standard/ |
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Read the full Transactional Gold and Silver FAQ transactionalgold.com/faq |