The Utah Goldback
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The Utah Goldback is a new, voluntary, local currency made from 24k gold. This is a form of local, legal tender that attempts to facilitate transactions with gold in a more practical manner. It is designed to allow smaller value transactions using precious metals, specifically gold. At the time of release, fall 2019, 1 Utah Goldback was valued at $2.60, but can and will fluctuate with gold price. I hope this information, although brief, will be a good introduction for those interested in the Goldbacks. Information in this reference thread is from the UPMA and Goldback websites as well as other third party websites listed and is not meant to be all inclusive or exhaustive.
Free Goldback with creation of United Precious Metals Association (UPMA) account:UPMA is a Utah based non-profit that offers members gold and silver accounts. It was initially founded by Lawrence Hilton in 2011 as "Citizens for Sound Money" and began offering legal tender gold accounts. In 2012 the name was changed to United Precious Metals Association and still functions to offer legal tender precious metals accounts as it did when formed.
https://www.upma.org333 S Main St
Alpine, UT 84004
1(888) 210-8488
info@upma.orgHow to get Goldbacks:https://goldback.com/how-to-get-goldbacksBackground (brief):From 1933 to 1974 US citizens could not legally own gold, some exceptions existed. In August, 1974 US Congress passed a law, 93-373 that repealed the prohibitions on purchasing, holding, selling, or otherwise dealing in gold in the United states or abroad. It was effective on December 31, 1974.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/93rd-congress/senate-bill/02665After this law passed, it took several years to begin to introduce gold back as a currency, and generally any coins minted had greater spot value than face value and were difficult to transact in for small purchases or frequent daily use, in spite of gold's inherent value. After 1974 the first gold coins were not minted until 1985 after Congress passed the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985.
Although other local currencies have existed before, it was not until 2011 that an attempt was made to utilize
precious metals as currency. Utah was the first to begin to attempt to utilize precious metals as currency. This was proposed by Lawrence Hilton, a Utah lawyer, and eventually brought to Utah legislature by Rep. Brad Galvez. On March 10, 2011 the state of Utah passed the Utah Legal Tender Act, HB0317.
https://le.utah.gov/~2011/bills/static/HB0317.htmlThis act recognized gold and sliver as legal tender in Utah. This allowed the state and individuals to transact directly in gold and sliver without paying capital gains taxes. This now allowed gold and silver to be used as more than a store of value, however transactions in precious metals was still cumbersome due to their value. Although Utah was the first to recognize gold an silver as legal tender, numerous others have adopted this concept including: West Virginia, Wyoming, Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee and South Carolina.
The Utah Goldback attempts to solve the issue of divisibility for precious metals. Goldbacks are printed by a company called Valaurum (
https://valaurum.com). They have developed a process using electrolysis to embed fractions of an ounce of gold between polymer layers. This allows for very small fractions of precious metals to be securely be transformed into easy to use gold bills. Goldbacks have been printed and released in the fall of 2019 and are now available for purchase and use.
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Goldback Denominations
At the time of initial release, fall of 2019, five denominations were printed. 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 notes. Below are images of the notes front and back, brief descriptions of each note, and the approximate value in USD at the time of release:
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1 Goldback
1/1000th troy oz. 24k gold
Size: 2.5 x 4.5 inches / 6.35 x 11.43 cm
Border Color: Green
Aprox USD: $2.60
Bill text: "Prudentiae" - discretion, foresight, prudence
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5 Goldbacks
1/200th troy oz. 24k gold
Size: 2.5 x 5.0 inches / 6.35 x 12.70 cm
Border Color: Blue
Aprox USD: $13.00
Bill text: "Veritas" - truth
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10 Goldbacks
1/100th troy oz. 24k gold
Size: 2.5 x 5.5 inches / 6.35 x 13.97 cm
Border Color: Red
Aprox USD: $26.00
Bill text: "Justitia" - equality, justice
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25 Goldbacks
1/40th troy oz. 24k gold
Size: 2.5 x 6.0 inches / 6.35 x 15.24 cm
Border Color: Orange
Aprox USD: $65.00
Bill text: "Victoria" - victory
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50 Goldbacks
1/20th troy oz. 24k gold
Size: 3.0 x 7.0 inches / 7.62 x 17.78 cm
Border Color: Purple
Aprox USD: $130.00
Bill text: "Libertas" - liberty, freedom
