A monetary system in which the standard economic unit is a fixed weight of gold. Under the gold standard, currency issuers guarantee to redeem notes, upon demand, in that amount of gold. Often considered by proponents of liberty to be superior to the current fiat currency. According to former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, “under the gold standard, a free banking system stands as the protector of an economy's stability and balance growth… The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit… In the absence of the gold standard, there is now way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation” (1966).

For more information on the gold standard, its advantages, and the dangers of working instead with fiat currency, see the article on the Federal Reserve.