"It's a bad idea to turn a currency into a commodity" But a currency is already a commodity. Many commodities have been used as currency through history - whe

"It's a bad idea to turn a currency into a commodity" But a currency is already a commodity. Many commodities have been used as currency through history - wheat, rice, cows etc. Precious metals like gold became popular as currencies because they make good currencies for a number of reasons - gold is not organic and deteriorates very slowly, gold is easy to divide and combine, it is easy to transport, one ounce of gold is no different than another ounce of gold, gold has value when used in industrial machinery etc. US coins used precious metals for a long time, although that is being phased out. US currency was backed by gold until the 1970s. Historically, currencies delinked from having the real underlying value of a useful commodity have not lasted long. Two years before I was born the dollar was still backed by gold. A paper currency and electronic currency with no underlying utility can always become worthless, gold has retained worth for thousands of years. There is a long list of useless and worthless electronic and paper currencies - Flooz, Beenz, Confederate dollars etc. German marks had a period of hyperinflation even before World War II ended, so they lost their value twice.