With gold at record highs and the possibility of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and de-dollarization, serious efforts to bring back gold and silver in commerce are proliferating.

From Florida and Texas to New Hampshire, New Jersey, and beyond, lawmakers are working to shake up the monetary system in creative ways. Some states have already made significant moves.

Dubbed “transactional gold bills,” the most far-reaching proposals would create state-backed systems to facilitate commerce in precious metals.

Arkansas lawmakers voted unanimously in the Senate and 89–1 in the House to create just such a system this month. Utah lawmakers did the same last month. More states are expected to do so this year amid a flurry of legislative efforts dealing with precious metals.

Private-sector gold and silver payment options already exist. But advocates say state backing would supercharge public interest and adoption.

Some of the more modest state efforts are removing capital gains taxes on gold and silver, declaring them to be “legal tender,” investing state reserves in metals, or studying the implications of more significant initiatives.

In a series of interviews over multiple months, a wide array of lawmakers from across the country, economists, movement leaders, and other experts told The Epoch Times these state-level efforts are more than just good policy.

At the state level, more than 60 gold-related bills were introduced in more than half of state legislatures last year. Even more are expected in 2025.

Executive branch officials from numerous states are also involved, with multiple state treasurers publicly announcing their support.

The largely conservative National Association of Christian Legislators has created model legislation for establishing a currency based on gold and silver.

A vote in Texas last year resulted in a landslide victory for creating a transactional gold system, with support from more than 75 percent of Republican voters.

Many Democrats are also voting for major bills on gold, with some of them describing it as an “economic justice” issue since inflation hurts the poor disproportionately.

In Arkansas, every state senator and all but one member of the lower house voted this month to create a transactional gold currency system through HB 1918. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, signed the bill into law on April 17.

“This is just the beginning,” he said, pointing to movement on the issue in dozens of states so far.

In a series of interviews, Freeman said he believes transactional gold could be the silver bullet to rescue the U.S. economy and middle class.

Freeman, who wrote the book “Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset” and also host of the “Economic War Room” podcast, said support was growing rapidly and the time to act is now.

“Our debt path is urgent,” he said. “Threats to the dollar are urgent. Inflation is urgent. CBDC is an urgent threat. And monetary change is already underway.”

Now, lawmakers are working to expand on that in a major way.

Using debit account-style cards linked to the precious metals deposited there, citizens and merchants could choose to pay or be paid in either gold or Federal Reserve Notes. The metals can easily be converted to cash at market prices at any time.

Advocates say this voluntary system would make it easier for interested citizens and businesses to keep some of their money in inflation-proof metals, while being able to access them anytime for commerce.

“Over the last 6,000 years of history, gold and silver have kept their value and served as the standard,” said Texas state Rep. Mark Dorazio, the primary Republican sponsor of the House bill to facilitate trade in gold.

“It is the go-to in economic crisis and instability—everyone knows you go to gold,” the lawmaker told The Epoch Times in one of several phone interviews, pointing to recent developments such as surging metals prices amid increased market volatility.

“Everybody I talk to likes the idea of using our depository to conduct business,” he added. “Plus, it would make money for the state. It’s a win-win.”

Speaking to The Epoch Times again last week, Dorazio sounded optimistic that the bill would be enacted this year.

“We have more momentum than ever, and I think Texas has the strength to do it—to really lead on this,” he said.

Last year, Utah authorities created a working group to consider how the state could use precious metals to protect its citizens.

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Utah Treasurer Marlo Oaks told The Epoch Times at the time that the state must act—pointing to inflation, which he said was particularly harmful to those least able to afford it.

“Creating opportunities for all Utahns to protect their purchasing power is a critical outcome we hope to achieve,” he said. “This is an economic justice issue.”

The workgroup, which brought together leading financial experts, considered the role of precious metals in the Utah economy and how they might be a bigger part of the state’s  economic growth.

Responding to recommendations from the workgroup, lawmakers in the state House of Representatives in March unanimously passed a major transactional gold bill. The Senate also approved the legislation overwhelmingly.

Known as HB 306, the bipartisan legislation authorizes the state treasurer to seek a provider for a precious metals-backed electronic payment platform. The goal is to allow state vendors to choose payment in gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve Notes and to make the precious metals “transactional.”

Analysts said this makes Utah the first state in the country to pass a “transactional gold” bill, though more are expected in the months ahead.

“A key takeaway from the workgroup is citizens should have a choice in how they conduct financial transactions,” Oaks said.

“HB 306 gives state vendors the option to be paid in precious metals, while ensuring the physical assets backing the system are stored in Utah and subject to regular audits,” he added. “This not only supports a secure and transparent system, but also takes an important step toward making transactional gold a viable option for all citizens.”

Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, the leader of the movement in the House, also touted the measure, telling The Epoch Times that his state will lead the way to getting gold back into circulation.

“Free people require sound money,” he said. “This law gives Utahns an alternative to choose how they preserve the purchasing power of their earnings and savings.”

Defying expectations, Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, vetoed the bill.

Utah lawmakers told The Epoch Times they expect to override the veto soon.

Ivory responded to the governor’s comments.

“If the governor had given me the courtesy of a phone call, I could have explained that for the state, it’s really pretty easy,” he told The Epoch Times, pointing out that leading financial experts from industry had contributed to the legislation.

“It’s just like setting up another bank account to transmit funds and, for the state, it transmits dollars,” Ivory said. “The vendor that requests to be paid in gold, they receive gold that’s vaulted and insured. I don’t know what’s impractical about that. It seems pretty simple.”

Ivory said the goal is to reestablish  “gold and silver as constitutional money, constitutional payment systems, as Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution requires.”

Article I, Section 10 ensures that no state shall “make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.”

To explain the urgency, Ivory gave an illustration of home prices.

In 1971, when President Richard Nixon took the U.S. dollar off the last vestiges of the gold standard, the average house in Salt Lake City cost less than $20,000. That was about 563 ounces of gold at the time.

“Today, that same average house is now $560,000, but it’s less than 190 ounces of gold,” Ivory said.

For 563 ounces of gold, people today could buy about three houses. “But the $20,000, you can’t even get a down payment, not anywhere close to a down payment on a $560,000 home,” he said.

Ivory also touted a shift toward gold in the context of warnings about efforts by the Chinese Communist Party and other governments to undermine the U.S. dollar’s status as the global reserve currency.

“It would be akin to government malpractice for us to not take some action to have alternate payment systems in Utah and not just let that come crashing down on us,” Ivory said. “And so, we saw that as quite serious.”

“This is really back to our future, going back to our foundation in terms of money,” Bankson told The Epoch Times in a phone interview after a day at the Capitol in Tallahassee.

“Gold and silver used to be our money; paper was just a representation of something tangible,” he added. “Ever since Nixon took us off the gold standard, we went to oil, but that now has ended, and we are facing efforts to unseat the dollar as the global currency.”

But the transaction system he is working to create in Florida would not supplant the dollar. Instead, it would simply give Floridians a “tangible means of getting back to gold, protecting their savings, and reclaiming their liberty.” It will also help stabilize the dollar, he said.

“What a wonderful thing that our nation’s forefathers had the foresight to have states use gold and silver as legal tender in the Constitution,” Bankson said.

Last year, the Florida bill stalled in the Senate. But this year it’s “full steam ahead,” Bankson said. “It’s an idea whose time has come. This is sweeping across the nation.”

The Florida House voted 112 to 1 to advance the bill on April 23.

That helps guard their purchasing power from the steady erosion wrought by inflation.

Mike Carter, an associate of Freeman’s and a key player in the movement, said the effort is taking on a life of its own.

“This is a major movement now. We are working in dozens of states, and we have a lot in play,” Carter told The Epoch Times. “And there are powerful forces keeping tabs on this as well.”

Carter, co-founder of the National Security Investment Consultant Institute (NSIC) and cohost of the nationally syndicated Pirate Money Radio, offered a flurry of examples of state actions happening right now, and said much more was coming.

“This is clearly God; it’s way beyond us,” he said. “It’s been amazing. These things happening—the access we are getting, the results we are seeing, the doors that are opening—it defies logic.”

“The demand for this information is off the charts,” continued Carter, adding that Democrats are in many cases more excited than Republicans when they fully grasp the significance of the effort.

“This is for mainstream, Mainstreet America,” he said.

Numerous other organizations and leaders are promoting pro-gold and -silver policies in state capitals across America.

Another organization, Citizens for Sound Money, is also urging states to pursue gold and silver as currency through what it calls the Sound Money Act.

The bill, if signed into law, would recognize gold and silver as legal tender, establish a state depository, and facilitate electronic payments in precious metals.

“Today, people feel the effects and impact of inflation in almost every aspect of their lives,” CEO Daniel Diaz with Citizens for Sound Money told The Epoch Times. “Whether it’s more expensive groceries, higher rents, or the fact that you can’t buy everything for $1 or less at Dollar Tree anymore, the burden is clear.”

The legislation is aimed at “protecting the purchasing power of the American people across the country,” he said.

Stefan Gleason, another key player in the broader movement, serves as CEO of Money Metals Exchange and chairman of the Sound Money Defense League.

Last year, Gleason’s team was able to get five “sound money” bills passed, and five the year before.

While not as ambitious as Freeman’s efforts, there is synergy between the various proposals.

Gleason is focused on dealing with the state and federal taxation hurdles that he said limit the potential use of precious metals in commerce.

“Ending the friction of taxation has been our top priority,” Gleason told The Epoch Times. “Doing so better enables individuals and businesses to adopt their own gold standard, introduces competition to the Federal Reserve Note ‘dollar,’ and fosters more innovation in money.”

In 2011, Utah passed a historic law recognizing gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal tender. The law exempted them from capital gains taxes.

In 2014, Oklahoma eliminated state taxes on gold and silver transactions.

Since then, the movement has been snowballing, with countless individual efforts, bills, hearings, and more taking place during legislative sessions across 50 state capitols.

“Inflation is hurting a lot of people right now and we need real solutions,” Gross told The Epoch Times in a phone interview after filing the bill. “Gold and silver are a natural hedge against this.”

“The bill will give everyday Americans an easy way to own gold and silver. It equalizes this opportunity, and they can use their precious metals for shopping just like they would use a debit account,” she added.

Gross, a combat veteran with a reputation for going against the grain, said she is “very hopeful we will get it done this year, even though it’s our first year with this legislation.”

In Iowa, state Sen. Kevin Alons introduced a similar bill last year.

“It’s complicated, but it’s not,” he said. “The Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air. People need to protect themselves. Their [the Fed’s] job is to prevent booms and busts while maintaining stable prices, but anybody can see they are failing.”

“Gold may not be a silver bullet,” Alons told The Epoch Times. “But having a financial system based on an actual currency is critical.”

He pointed to the “weaponization of our currency” in the form of sanctions on nations and individuals through policies such as the Global Magnitsky Act for sanctioning people involved in alleged human rights abuses, surveillance of Americans, and more as some of the looming dangers inherent in the current system.

Creating a state-backed transactional system is simply a “common sense” measure akin to flood controls to protect from natural disasters, Alons added.

“We have a federal government that has been out of control for a long time, and this is a constitutional mechanism to help deal with it,” he said.

The dangers facing America are significant and it behooves states to prepare, he added.

“Taking bold action like this is important,” he said, predicting that 2025 will be the year the idea truly gains traction nationwide.

Oklahoma’s transactional gold legislation has been approved in the state House and now sits in a Senate committee awaiting action.

“Historically, ... gold and silver has been something the wealthy could store away and hedge against inflation, but the average person cannot,” Murphy said. “The nice thing about this is, think about the single mom who could put $25 a week or $25 a month or whatever in this account and it will hold its value.”

Many other related proposals are also being considered.

In Wyoming, lawmakers adopted the Wyoming Gold Act in February, requiring the state treasurer to keep some of the state’s reserves in gold.

Wyoming state Sen. Bob Ide, the lead sponsor, told The Epoch Times that the state had significant unhedged exposure to declining dollars and dollar-denominated debt.

“This puts our state’s finances and citizens at risk,” the Republican lawmaker said, noting that the price of gold in dollars has risen more than 100 percent since the bill was first proposed in 2019.

“Central banks all over the world, and even neighboring Utah and other states across the U.S. have started to seek alternatives to the U.S. dollar,” Ide explained.

“As gold and silver have been a reliable store of value for thousands of years, it is imperative that Wyoming continues in its efforts to be the leader in sound money policy.”

Separately, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivery just signed a bill into law this year affirming gold and silver as legal tender.

Idaho, meanwhile, approved a law last month eliminating remaining taxes on gold and silver.

One of the major players in the market is U.K.-based Glint, which functions in some ways like the state-backed systems being pushed by lawmakers across the country.

Under the system, a user buys gold that is stored in an insured vault in Switzerland. Customers then receive a Mastercard-branded card. Using that card, consumers can shop using their gold with any merchant around the world that accepts Mastercard. The merchants are then paid in their preferred currency—dollars, pounds, euros, or any other fiat currency.

Georgia state Sen. Marty Harbin, who is working to create a transactional gold system for his state and hosted the president of Glint for a visit, tried out the system and said she loved it.

“This is up and running right now,” he told The Epoch Times in a phone interview last year. “And it runs really well.”

“We took the president of GLINT to Chick-fil-A,” Harbin said. “He actually bought Chick-fil-A with gold. So that was pretty cool.”

He said the idea is gaining traction with executive branch officials in Georgia.

Another private-sector player is the Utah-based United Precious Metals Association (UPMA). Founded in 2011, the organization works as a co-op, allowing members to store and use their metals in a way some analysts have compared with a bank.

Like Glint, UPMA offers members a card that turns precious metals into fiat currency when a transaction is made.

Separately, Brownstone Institute Fellow Aaron Day, a leader in the monetary technology field and chairman of The Daylight Foundation, is working to help tokenize gold and silver using blockchains to make it even easier to use.

“This gives people the ability to have the sound money properties of gold and silver with the convenience and ease of use of blockchain technology,” he told The Epoch Times, touting both state-backed and private-sector efforts.

Day also touted Goldbacks, gold-infused notes launched in Utah in 2019 that can be spent with willing merchants in a range of denominations from 1 to 50. Each unit represents 1/1000th of an ounce of gold.

“We are really focused on helping people use gold as money,” Cordon said.

Among other projects, Day is working on “privacy tokens” to allow people to save and spend Goldbacks digitally, but without the tracking inherent in most digital payment systems. The digital tokens are redeemable in physical Goldbacks.

At the moment, the Internal Revenue Service treats gold and silver as an “investment.”

As such, when the dollar loses value, anyone holding gold or silver is expected to pay a capital gains tax on the metal’s supposed gains.

However, multiple experts said that these alleged “gains” are illusory. In reality, the metals simply maintain their value as the dollar’s purchasing power is eroded through new currency creation by the central bank.

Despite those concerns, lawmakers from across the country expressed optimism that the issue could and would be dealt with by the Trump administration in the not-too-distant future.

Trump has been a vocal supporter of precious metals. In the recent past, he even touted a return to the gold standard.

“Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but, boy, would it be wonderful,” he said in an interview with GQ during his 2016 campaign. “We’d have a standard on which to base our money.”

In a 2016 video celebrating Trump’s decision to accept payment in gold for office space in his building, Trump touts the metal and warns about what is happening to U.S. currency.

“Sadly, we all know what’s happening to the dollar,” Trump said, a reference to the ongoing loss of purchasing power. “The dollar is going down and it’s not a pretty picture, and it’s not being sustained by proper policy and proper thinking.

“This was an opportunity and maybe an opportunity to show people what’s happening with the dollar so we can do something about it,” he said.

Trump recently said his administration intends to check on the U.S. government’s gold stockpile.

“We’re going to go into Fort Knox to make sure the gold is there,” he told reporters.

Writing on his social media platform X, Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk suggested livestreaming the visit.

Legislation to restore the gold standard has been introduced in Congress repeatedly in recent years.

Then-Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) introduced multiple bills to bring back gold and was a champion of the issue during his time in Congress from 2015 to 2025.

“Returning to the gold standard would bolster domestic and international confidence in the U.S. dollar because its value would be tied to something of actual worth, not just the ‘full faith and credit’ of the U.S. government,” Mooney told The Epoch Times in 2023.

“This would preserve the U.S. dollar’s global reserve status.”

Inflation and deflation would be “merely temporary phenomena,” the paper found.

The Federal Reserve declined to comment on the gold bills.

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.