History·15 February 2026·5 min read
1971 — the day money let go of gold
With a TV speech, President Nixon broke the link between the dollar and gold. Since then, the world's money is pure trust.
On August 15, 1971, US President Nixon announced that the dollar would no longer be convertible to gold. It was the end of the Bretton Woods system and of the last link between money and precious metal.
The world of fiat money
Since then, all the world's currencies are "fiat" — they have value because we trust them, not because they're backed by gold. For over 50 years, we've lived in the era of money based purely on trust.
Since 1971, every banknote in the world is a promise with no metal backing. Its only guarantee is us, those who accept it.
