A humble beginning. Purchased my first few Goldbacks, and one of the wallets, from Alpine Gold.
https://alpinegold.com
The maker’s website.
https://www.goldback.com
Even available in more than a score of Gold ATMs across several states.
https://goldatm.com
I remember when I was first reading about these, they were about $3.20 for one Goldback. Now, they go for $5.48, up almost 10% since my purchase.
Each Goldback contains 1/1000 troy oz. of gold in a floppy, vertical bill format; the wallets are inexpensive and made so Goldbacks can be stored without bending. The issuer releases different designs for each state, as networks of businesses that will accept them are arranged. See this article on the launch of the Florida Goldback, which introduces new denominations 1/2, 2, and 100 Goldbacks. https://www.goldback.com/news/the-florida-goldback-humanitys-most-advanced-gold-currency
Most surprising thing? When new they tend to cling together, which makes a bill spread easy to do.
Two of them will be “bookmark” stocking stuffers, the rest are to keep. Hope to accumulate at least enough for a few grocery trips in a currency crisis.
I would be ”all set” right now if Goldbacks were available in a local ATM, and they were accepted in a neighborhood grocer and a cafe. Add a book store and a candy store, and most purchases could be directly from pay to gold. That would be something. Likely to happen soon in some places?
Always paying through cards, apps... people feel that it is more convenient, but it remains fundamentally phony—you are only exchanging numbers—and a record of every purchase follows you around, for someone else to datamine, or contrive some way to get you in trouble. How much better to actually exchange the store of value, that would remain valuable even if the power grid went out? Holding in dollars also discourages saving. I am not sure how sleeping on a mattress stuffed with Goldbacks would feel, but the stored worth wouldn’t inflate away, it might even appreciate.
Everyone should check out and buy a few Goldbacks. If you don’t like them… well, that will just encourage a merchant to begin accepting them. Who wouldn’t want to take pure gold in payment? #Goldback #AlpineGold #GoldATM #gold