There's a reason why the free market chose to practically abandon gold and silver.
It's not because of Gresham's law, though. Gresham's law only describes the symptoms, but not the cause. The cause is because of legal tender laws that require fiat to be accepted by those giving out loans.
This. The often misquoted Gresham's if often misquoted to mean "bad money displaces good money" but this important caveat is UNDER GOVERNMENTAL FORCE.
Good ol' Gresham lived in a time where classical "currency money", i.e. money that takes its value from the material value of its coins was the only "good money", whereas government issued money was considered "bad". That's why, in its original form, Gresham's law is effectively not applicable to the situation of e.g. the U.S. Dollar versus bitcoin. That's also why said law is usually quoted in its more general meaning "bad money drives out good". It is applicable for any pair of currencies, be they legal tender or not and will lead to the depreciation of the less attractive one against the more attractive up to the point where an equilibrium is reached. From then on, the bad money will be in higher circulation because it is riskier to hold on to it, making it practically more useful than the good money. In fact, the principle does not only apply to currencies, but can even be seen on job markets or elsewhere.
So, yes, you're right, Gresham's law is often misquoted, and not even applicable to today's situation.
