Commodity money always ends up getting scammed by governments and banks....I believe the evolution of it goes like this...
Direct use of Gold to store value.
Direct use of silver and copper... for trade (first example of gresham's law)
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First grift
Governments mint coin.
Governments realize the coin makers and then will need to trim a little off the coins to cover "expenses"
Governments realize they have more "expenses" so they'll just add some cheaper metals that look just like gold...
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Paper receipts on commodities are created by private depositories to store commodities in a bank safe.
People start to trade the receipt ownership with each other instead of the commodity directly.
Banks issue predenominated receipts and checks on the stored commodities.
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Banks offer interest to customers that allow them to loan commodities out.
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Next grift...
Banks then realize... it's not like everyone is going to need their Gold all at once. The won't notice if I lend theirs out without permission.
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Next grift....
Governments aren't going to just sit back and let others run this grift.....