gold based currency?
gold standard?
do not be fooled. a gold based currency is just another ponzi.
it collapses like any other currency which can be manipulated easily:
originally people used gold as currency.
that became too complicated and cumbersome and a system was invented whereby gold was put in a vault and certificates were issued. the vault is called "reserve" because of the gold reserves stored there for the people with certificates.
over time people used actual gold less and less, and the reserve system got more and more popular. eventually the keepers of the vault realized that the certificates were so popular that there was no chance everybody would take out all their gold at once, and so no one will ever know if they print just a few more certificates than they have gold in their vaults...
when there is not enough gold in the vault to match all the certificates that have been printed, the system is called a "fractional reserve" because the gold in the reserve is only a fraction. For example if each certificate entitles a person to receive 1 pound of gold, and 1000 certificates have been printed, but the vault only physically contains 100 pounds of gold, then it is a 10% fractional reserve.
over the years, the keepers of the vault printed more and more certificates. Finally it became obvious to a lot of people that there are more certificates in existence than gold in the vault, and the system broke down entirely.
this system has existed in some form for centuries with private corporations functioning as vault keepers (some of them later turned into the first banks). For a long time, many governments (including the US) which also corporations, had their own reserve system, and US dollars were claims against gold in government (corporation) operated vaults (the most famous of which is Fort Knox). During the 20th century the system collapsed for a variety of reasons, and US currency is no longer backed by gold. But dollars are still officially called "Federal Reserve Notes" and you can find the words "FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE" printed on every dollar bill even though the federal reserve is neither federal not does it hold any reserves.