How will a brics gold backed currency affect bitcoin ? Gold backed, or Commodity backed, currencies have been tried at times since money was invented. They work for a while, sometimes quite well like the most recent Bretton Woods did. However, they always fail spectacularly when more currency is printed than there is gold backing. Unfortunately , govts love "backed" currencies because they can cheat on them and slyly print under the table. Brics will be no different. The entire point of bitcoin is that its it not backed by anything, it is a bearer instrument that stands alone at face value. Which , to me, says bitcoin will actually work, crooks don't trust each other and ironically they will demand payment in bitcoin IMO. Bitcoin will only be a base or reserve currency, but that is what we want. We want our monetary foundation to be firm , we want a rock solid base layer that everything else can be marked to market to. The fast payments systems will be myriad , even including visa etc, but the base layer on which these fast payment systems are built must be irrefutable.