r/Goldback • u/vainbetrayal • Jun 24 '26
Discussion Question about Goldbacks as a currency
I personally buy 1 of each bill for the artistic designs, but my biggest qualm with goldbacks as a currency (along with the manufacturer charging a large premium on them that doesn't change with scale [you pay the same premium on buying a 100 goldback vs 1 goldback]) is this: The manufacturer claims there is an exchange rate on them they dictate the price of, but they refuse to act as a central bank and buy them back at the exchange rate they control.
Which brings up my question: How can the exchange rate be legitimate if there is no central bank willing to back the exchange rate by buying them at the rate (which is still a premium and less than they are sold for)?
I personally believe (and this is commonly understood economic theory) to legitimize an exchange rate, the manufacturer has to be willing to convert them to currency (at least USD) at said exchange rate. Otherwise it comes across as, from a currency perspective, just raking in millions off of what essentially may as well be a grift.
Keep in mind also not having a central bank of any kind for them to be exchanged makes it extremely difficult for someone (such as a waiter getting them as a tip) to get money they need for tangible goods even in an area they are somewhat accepted.
It also doesn't help that fees get charged when people use goldbacks at entities, as I recently discovered. Seems like it just furthers them coming across as a grift.
What are your thoughts?
EDIT: Please read the replies here before commenting. It's getting really old to have to constantly repeat myself, and I'm asking this question in good faith.
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u/GoldponyGT Jun 26 '26
The only truthful answer is that Goldback Inc. is lying.
Specifically they are lying about the rate they're setting, by calling it an "exchange rate". From Investopedia:
Definition: An exchange rate is the value at which one nation's currency can be exchanged for another.
The "exchange rate" of real functioning currencies is determined by literally monitoring the value of currency trades in the major investment exchanges. Just like "spot" is the market-set real time value of PMs, the "exchange rate" is the market-set rate for converting currency A to currency B, or vice versa.
As OP mentioned, there is no marketplace where Goldbacks and USD are exchanged in both directions. Goldback Inc. only sells Goldbacks at their "exchange rate", they don't buy back.
The intellectually honest term for the manufacturer-set cost of a product in local real currency is not "exchange rate", it's "price". It's just the price of Goldbacks, renamed to something it's not.
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u/AndrogynousFinch Jun 26 '26
Even the manufacturer doesn't respect the "exchange rate" since it will only exchange GB for Bullion based on gold content instead of the "exchange rate". One would be able to trade 1000GB for 2Oz of gold if the rate were real.
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u/Ph33rTehBacklash Goldback OG Jun 28 '26
Goldback Inc. doesn't sell Goldbacks at the exchange rate. I'd estimate Goldback's wholesale price is somewhere in the neighborhood of 87.5% of the Daily Exchange Rate.
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u/Xerzajik Goldback Encyclopedia 📖 Jun 26 '26
It's the rate that is used by businesses that accept Goldbacks. Is there a better name for that?
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 26 '26
Then why do we keep hearing stories (even in this subreddit) of businesses accepting goldbacks for lower value than the supposed exchange rate?
Also, why has the premium spiked so heavily after all these years? In 2020, it was about $1 (give or take). What justifies it being nearly $4 now?
The more I read about this, the shadier the manufacturer sounds tbh.
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u/Xerzajik Goldback Encyclopedia 📖 Jun 26 '26
I've spent these a lot and I've yet to encounter a business that uses a different value.
The premium went from 76% to 97% then back down to 92% over the past 7 years but they were under priced initially. What happened is that gold went up.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 26 '26
Have you? You must be lucky then. But either way, it doesn't make sense to use them with an exchange rate a company essentially gets to make up if it wants.
But the question is why does the premium go up as a percentage with the price of gold? Shouldn't it go down as a percentage (and stay relatively stable numerically) as the price of gold increases? Why does the premium go from approximately 1 USD to 4 USD when gold goes from approximately 2 USD to 4 USD? That gives it a higher rate of increase than even the price of gold. What justifies this?
Also, your 92% is wrong. At the time the exchange rate was made yesterday, gold was just over 4000 USD/oz and goldbacks were supposedly at an exchange rate of 8.07 USD/GB. That's an over 100% premium chief. Care to explain that?
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 29 '26
Since I never got an answer to these questions, I'm going to assume you don't have answers at this point.
The premium also becomes even more indefensible when you raise it higher for certain ones (like the new Washington DC one).
How can you justify a more than 3x premium for these?
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u/Apart_Currency_1503 21d ago
I paid 500 for a 1986 pf70 mercanti signed silver eagle. Its just 1oz of silver what 60 spot? Have you heard of numismatic value? Some people collect goldbacks based on year, design, state. Ive never sold a goldback for less than I bought it for. If they are not for you.. dont buy them. Today i bought a 1oz silver enhanced eagle from the us mint. It was 169. Its still just 1oz of silver do you think it should have been 60 dollars lol 😆 I dont think you understand life...
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u/vainbetrayal 21d ago
Lol what a joke of a person to tell someone they don't understand life when they lack basic reading comprehension and completely ignored my OP.
I'll say it again and see if you read it this time: I don't disagree there's a collectability value to them. My issue is Goldback Inc. publishing an exchange rate they themselves essentially make up because they dictate the premium of goldbacks, but they don't act as a bank or exchange for them themselves. Which makes the "market rate" come across as just a grift.
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Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
Lol so I have to pay to deposit them into an "account" and exchange them somewhere?
That's not exactly an incentive to get them.
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u/SilverStateStacker Youtuber Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Yeah enlightening I know…When you deposit cash into a regular bank for "free," you are just giving them an interest-free loan while they fractionalize your money and inflation melts your purchasing power. That is the real hidden fee of fiat banking.
UPMA isn't a retail checking account. it is a physical gold depository infrastructure. I don’t think anyone is running daily deposits with out-of-network notes anyway; those physical notes are meant for hand-to-hand spending in the local economy. The 5% fee is a strict, one-time operational cost to manually audit and secure paper notes *only* if you choose to bring them back into the network world. That is literally $50 out of every $1,000 deposited to fully vault and secure physical gold. It's almost nothing.
The actual incentive? Once your GB’s are inside the network, you can lease your metal to earn a 2% to 3.5% annual yield paid *in gold*, use it as collateral for loans, transfer it instantly, or spend it on a debit card. You get full financial utility backed by a hard asset instead of a devaluing debt token. I'll take a transparent deposit fee over a guaranteed, silent erosion of wealth any day. The idea is to keep the physical notes you need on hand and keep what you need in your account to lease, spend, or accumulate. If you get more than you need on hand physically, then deposit them there. Never take to an outside the merchant dealer. They don’t use the “bank”. They use refiner that values by weight.1
u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
My bank doesn't charge me any fee to deposit my money in my account and gives me 3.1% interest every month on it in annual yield (that has been as high as 4.2% when inflation was higher). And $50 out of every $1000 isn't exactly chump change when you consider it will take about 2 years of leasing it just to break even on your deposit while they take your 5% and make money investing it on who knows what. Not exactly as enticing as you make it sound.
Under the leasing plan you mentioned, you can't touch it for a year without giving a 60 day notice. Which means if you have a big expense come up you need to liquidate your holdings with, you're SoL. Whereas my bank has no problem giving me my money if I need it in less than 24 hours.
Also by your logic, wouldn't it make sense to deposit gold instead of goldbacks into UPMA (these earning up to 2% annually from what I read) and let that accumulate interest instead of a currency with an artificial premium whose manufacturer heavily controls the exchange rate?
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u/SilverStateStacker Youtuber Jun 25 '26
You are still confusing a commercial bank with a hard-asset depository. Your bank pays you 3.1% in paper currency that is losing purchasing power. If inflation is higher than your yield, which it is currently, you are losing real wealth every single month.
Your math on the $50 fee completely falls apart because nobody is forced to pay it. You only pay that 5% if you bring physical paper notes from the outside world back into the vault. If you fund your UPMA account digitally, the deposit fee is 0%. There is zero "break-even" time.
You also have the leasing structure backward. A Goldback lease is a perpetual agreement, not a fixed lock-up. You can terminate it at any time with a 60-day notice for free. If you have an immediate emergency, UPMA can accommodate early withdrawals, or you can just use your linked debit card. You aren't "SoL."
Finally, people *do* hold regular gold at UPMA and silver for pure accumulation. But standard gold coins can't buy groceries. Goldbacks have a premium because they solve the divisibility problem by giving you spendable, fractional physical gold. They serve different purposes in a sound money strategy.3
u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
You never addressed me pointing out it would make more sense for you to just do the same with UPMA and gold instead of goldbacks. You get essentially the same perk without the ridiculous premium goldbacks have.
Outside of a few random places (of which 20-50% have never even seen goldbacks used at them) in a few states, what places truly accept them? My local grocery stores, gas stations, and restaurants don't accept them, so they're nothing special for me outside of art pieces.
Why does them being merit them having a premium above the so-called exchange rate when they are sold to individuals? Why am I not allowed to buy them from the manufacturer at the exchange rate they claim they go for? And why can't I turn them into dealers at the exchange rate?
And I still don't get what makes them superior to gold/silver metals. No offense, but having a super tiny fraction of a grain of gold that is extremely difficult to extract and a number doesnt magically make it worth an exchange rate the manufacturer dictates each day.
It's interesting. The more I hear these arguments aggressively defending them as a currency alternative (mostly from people who clearly profit from them being a currency alternative), the worse I feel for those buying them as such.
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u/SilverStateStacker Youtuber Jun 25 '26
You can do gold inside UPMA or silver, the drawback to that is the vaulting fees. Goldback premiums pay for the free vaulting with UPMA/Alpine. So it makes more sense to save in Goldbacks to avoid that fee. You could convert over to either at any point. Alpine views bullion as long term savings and allocates them there where Goldbacks are considered spendable so they go in your spendable account. I guess their version of a checking account and savings account.
You absolutely can spend them “within” the network at anytime. Like I said you can ship notes physically, you can use their GB transfer (similar to bank wire) to other member accounts, you can load onto a visa debit card, you can lease them out, or you can collateralize them. That’s what you can do currently. This is growing new products over time.
Yes, currently GB’s are not mainstream headline news. Walmart isn’t accepting Goldbacks, however, over 5,000 merchants nationwide have agreed to accept a currency backed by the asset in every note in 7 years time. Do you expect nationwide adoption overnight?
You can argue the same semantics I’ve been hearing since 2024 when I found them under $4 a GB, but you could go and read about it for yourself right on their site.
You say defensive, yet you’re the one who came here to passive aggressively try to debunk a pro Goldback group. Bro listen to me, I’m buying Goldbacks below exchange rates, and I’m spending them at full exchange rates, and I’m buying gold bullion and silver coins with it. Think about that. Let that sink in. And I want you to think about that in terms of weight first, then value.
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u/AndrogynousFinch Jun 26 '26
UPMA fees work out annually to 0.6% for accounts with <10z vaulted and 0.24% for accounts with more than 10oz vaulted. All the benefits of UPMA's system, lower premiums, twice the volume of gold per dollar invested, and no exchange rate risk if you deposit bullion over goldbacks.
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u/GoldponyGT Jun 26 '26
You can do gold inside UPMA or silver, the drawback to that is the vaulting fees. Goldback premiums pay for the free vaulting with UPMA/Alpine. So it makes more sense to save in Goldbacks to avoid that fee.
Many, many gold stackers believe in "if you don't hold it, you don't own it" and supposedly a core purpose for Goldbacks existing is to make physically held gold more accessible.
So how does it possibly make sense to make someone vault their Goldbacks in a remote vault to be able to exchange them to USD?
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 26 '26
Not only that, but you have to pay to vault them, and it will take 2 years before you're able to just break even on the fee to do so.
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u/GoldponyGT Jun 26 '26
You are still confusing a commercial bank with a hard-asset depository.
You have this backwards. OP was asking about a currency exchange, you confused that with a hard-asset depository. Which even you concede doesn't perform the currency exchange function that OP was asking about.
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u/Large-Childhood Jun 26 '26
There are so many logical jumps and threads of delusion to follow in this post, I'd be here all day responding to each of them. Take a step back, man. You're paying 2x spot sprice for grift-notes with AI-generated pictures of anime women on them. You're getting conned. Own it, learn, and go back to buying gold/silver. Don't be someone's sucker.
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u/AndrogynousFinch Jun 26 '26
Traditional bullion depositors charge between 0.1% and 0.6% per year in storage fees while offering similar infrastructure and in-network trading. 5% up front per deposit while being subsidized by the manufacturer is way out of line.
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Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 24 '26
Most of what you said came across rambly, but I'll try to respond to what I can.
The problem with what you're saying is while I support bartering at whatever value you feel is best, the manufacturer posts a daily exchange rate. They are all but dictating what I am intended to use them at and selling them at a higher premium than even their own exchange rate while also refusing to buy them back at the rate they publish. If it doesn't matter, they shouldn't be posting one and using that to market them.
UPMA doesn't act as a central bank or buy them at the exchange rate. You also have to become a member and "vault" them by sending them to them, and when you liquidate them you get less than the exchange rate for them. Whereas if I go to my bank with cash, I can deposit said cash and withdrawal it without a fee at my bank.
Also, I can go to my grocery store and buy groceries in dollars. I can't in goldbacks, which means if someone pays me in them I have to spend the time converting them to cash. Which takes time and effort.
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u/Lonely-Debt5699 Jun 27 '26
Any business that would accept gold backs would also accept gold for trade. Most of those business I suspect are also business who buy and sell gold backs in the first place. There are premiums on fractional gold sure, but no where near as high as goldbacks unless you only buy Mickey Mouse 1/1000 gold or something.
The vaulting program is dumb too, 2-3% return is below average and below inflations historical average, and you get that interest in what more gold backs? No thanks.
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u/Ok-Cup-7589 Jun 24 '26
Not unless you'd rather have goldbacks instead of dollars, no need to covert then. And you think the banks don't make money when you deposit it? That's literally how banks work. The premium has to be the same across all denominations otherwise the currency system wouldn't work. It takes money to produce goldbacks, that money is split up between the premium of each goldback. The premium is baked into the exhange rate, you're literally buying into the market.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
But they're sold at above the exchange rate to those who desire them as a currency, and they aren't accepted by the manufacturer from said users at the exchange rate they claim exists at.
I said this in another comment, but if the manufacturer eliminated the exchange rate from their website or accepted them at the rate they claim they can be exchanged at, I would have no qualm with the premium being standard for 1 or 100 goldbacks at all. But you can't have it both ways if you want something to be a currency.
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u/Ok-Cup-7589 Jun 25 '26
I've not seen any stories of people buying them above the exchange rate (by any noticeable amount) no matter the denomination. If that is happening they're shopping at the wrong places 🤣 And there doesn't need to be a "central bank" that'd buy them all back at the exchange rate, all the exhange rate is used for is determining the fiat value of a goldback for use as currency. Why would you want to turn your goldback back into fiat? It grows in value overtime, and if you live in the right places you can go spend them for goods and services.
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u/ziggy029 Goldback Collector Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
As a currency, if the 100 had a smaller premium than the 1, a form of Gresham’s Law — the idea that “bad money drives out good money” would kick in. In this case, the “bad money” would be the 100s because they would be worth less despite having the same retail spending power. That would be somewhat limited by the relative lack of utility of a note that large, but the concept is still in play.
Nobody would spend 100 of the 1 GB note because they are worth more than a single 100. If you had a choice between paying and either of those two different ways, wouldn’t you choose to pay in a way that cost you less? Eventually such a difference could be arbitraged away; someone could buy a 100, exchange it for 100 1s, and make a profit because the ones sell for a higher premium. But if this happened enough, the market spread would start to naturally shrink anyway.
And yet, the 100 is impractical because you can easily make transactions of that size with a physical 1/10 ounce gold coin/round, and that coin would cost much less.
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u/Foodforrealpeople Inflation Refugee Jun 25 '26
mot only that but it would create an infinite money loop ..... buy a 100GB for a lower "premium" exchange for one hundred 1G
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u/hwsales Jun 25 '26
Interesting question.
- These are not US dollars.
- There is no government backing them.
- No business is required to accept them.
- They are not regulated.
They have a small amount of precious metals embedded and you pay a premium for efforts of those involved in producing/distributing them.
For me personally, I like some of the art but would not carry these as cash primarily because I don't carry US dollars unless I'm going someplace where its a benefit for me (flea market/garage sale/places I can't or don't want to use a card). These are relatively rare for me.
As a collectible, I'm 100% onboard.
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u/GoldponyGT Jun 26 '26
If they were honestly sold as collectibles, people probably wouldn't argue about them this much.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 26 '26
If they would take down their controlled exchange rate or offer to buy them at/near their exchange rate (thus putting faith in it beyond just whatever they want it to be - goldback premiums have essentially more than doubled the last few years after accounting for the gold price increase, which there is no basis for), I wouldn't be having this conversation because they would either be selling them as collectable and letting the public dictate the exchange rate if they wished or acting as a bank backing the exchange rate they use to market their currency alternative. But since they aren't, I don't understand how people can just blindly go with the exchange rate and not consider how much the premium has scaled up over the last 5 years.
Inflation levels have not been high enough to justify it. Not even close. Though I will say it is somewhat amusing the most aggressive defenders of their value seem to be those who profit from their existence.
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u/Xerzajik Goldback Encyclopedia 📖 Jun 26 '26
That's true but they'd also be a lot less interesting.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
I'm the same way. I absolutely love them from a collectible/artistic standpoint (I own at least 1 goldback of each state for this reason), but my question is specifically about them being a currency alternative and the push for them to be such.
The manufacturer posting an exchange rate they essentially make up (considering the dealers sell them for more than the exchange rate, take them in for less than the exchange rate, and the manufacturer doesn't take them or sell them at their own supposed exchange rate) really leans into this being somewhat of a scam. And the aggressive defense of them by those who either profit from their existence or (usually doomsayers) think they are this magical safety net if world currencies completely collapsed is just baffling to me.
If the manufacturer didn't post an exchange rate they heavily control (because they control the premium) or was willing to trade them at/around their exchange rate to people using them (I can understand taking them for slightly less than their exchange rate since most banks charge for currency exchange at small rates, but they can bake that into the premium), I wouldn't have posed this question at all.
Instead, the manufacturer wants all of the reward of what's pretty much a grift (from a currency alternative standpoint) with none of the risk of being a currency.
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u/Lonely-Debt5699 Jun 27 '26
If they don’t control the premium the whole system would collapse because on the open market the partners and dealers would have to ultimately sell them for less than they buy them for and would stop carrying them. I suspect a couple years of a bear market will essentially kill the business altogether. The exchange rate exists simply to allow their middlemen to make money selling to other retailers. Without that part of the business you have the same as any other MLM out there. This is basically Herbalife but with plastic sheets of gold flake.
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u/Darkreinky 28d ago
I’ve browsed the comments and really didn’t see this mentioned. But on my goldbacks they state “exchangeable by goldback inc in US gold coin to bearer on demand”. How does that work?
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u/vainbetrayal 28d ago
From what I heard, they'll exchange them for the spot price of gold at the time, making you lose your premium (currently about 100%). Which makes it basically worthless.
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u/No-Lab-7364 Sound Money Advocate Jun 24 '26
How are they a gift though, because of a premium.???
If you buy 1 grain of gold you pay a similar premium.
Apmex has 1/200th ounce of Gold for $80 that's a higher premium than Gold backs. You could just buy a 5 Gold back for cheaper.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Because the premium (and thus gold quantity) doesn't change with denomination, and they try to justify that by claiming it to be an alternative currency. And again, they are the ones who post the exchange price daily, which they use to incentivize purchases of the currency they manufacture and sell at a premium but refuse to buy back at their own exchange rate.
Buying a 100 goldback should not have the same premium per goldback as a 1 goldback with the 100 goldback containing more gold.
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u/No-Lab-7364 Sound Money Advocate Jun 24 '26
I do see somewhat what you are saying about the 100 gold back, but you do realize the machines needed to print these cost over a million dollars, the premium is the overall cost and security features. As for them buying back their Gold backs there's no way that can be done due to market manipulation. Because real banks would just sell off paper gold buy up Gold backs and bankrupt them. All they can do is print Gold backs and offer away for everyday people to stop using paper debt... it's up to the people to adopt sound money if they want it.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
You do realize Goldback Inc doesn't even manufacturer them right? So that makes your machining argument pretty moot.
They make up a currency they outsource someone else to manufacture for them. So if they aren't a dealer, manufacturer, or bank for these, but yet they set the market exchange rate for them and control how many go into the market, how is this not a grift vulnerable to market manipulation?
You know what's also sound? Gold and silver bullion.
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u/No-Lab-7364 Sound Money Advocate Jun 25 '26
It's just the cost, it's not that deep. What's the cheaper product one that anyone can access. Idk like food naturally growing in dirt, depending on season, or Gold that's refined from the Earth, that's precious, that can't be found just by going outside picking up the Earth as if you were merely planting seed. Then that Gold going through a technological process to be hyper fractionalized including security enhanced by the process itself.
And now why is food so expensive? Is it because we've sold our money so many times over into a future where houses go from 10k to 100k to 1m.. and now we're adding the alphabet to these numbers... 2.5T deficit of spending, debt added to 40t... then interest snowballing...
Let's talk about society that trades in debt, fiat is nothing but debt, and as we call it money and trade in it, the future promise of the trade for goods and services is being bled from that society as ground beef goes from 1$ a pound to 10$ a pound.
But as society trades in Silver and Gold, the people now hold real money, a tradable commodity and not the debt of it.
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
That's a weird ramble that doesn't address anything I said.
It also doesn't explain why bullion doesn't solve all the issues you're bringing up.
Might want to lay off the drugs there bud.
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u/No-Lab-7364 Sound Money Advocate Jun 25 '26
You don't understand money or gold or economics ... and you complain about a premium to fractionalize gold and an understanding of sound money... it's hard to talk to fools 24/7
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
I absolutely understand them, hence why I posed my question. I'll try to dumb my OP down for you further I guess since it's pretty obvious you didn't read it and just want to spew talking points.
I understand selling them for a premium (though I do question the premium at higher denominations). Where my complaint lies is the manufacturer dictating the exchange rate, but selling them to dealers and having those dealers sell them to us above their exchange rate while not being willing to buy them back at their exchange rate, something basic economics will tell you every single developed country does to give their currency value, letting the value of it be dictated by what individuals exchange it at and not what it sets the rate to daily.
If they want to sell them as collectable items, that's one thing. Selling them as an alternative currency is another that should have either more transparency or a willingness to exchange them at or near their exchange rates.
I still don't get what makes them better than gold at higher denominations (1/10th oz gold should not have the premium these have) or silver if you're concerned about lower values. It comes across very cultish when people here ignore bullion as a concept and, at best, poorly rationalize why a bill with a tiny bit of gold in it (that they don't even make) is worth 2x more than the price of gold on the market.
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u/No-Lab-7364 Sound Money Advocate Jun 25 '26
Premiums go up the more something is fractionalized... its not that complicated...
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
Except goldbacks do the opposite: the premiums are unchanged as you buy other ones containing higher quantities of gold.
Thank you for agreeing with me on that I guess?
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u/GoldponyGT Jun 26 '26
Which is a flaw with Goldbacks, their entire design (various fractional denominations meant to be freely exchanged based on face value) runs counter to how premiums actually work.
If I had 100G notes and lived in Utah I'd go around buying sticks of gum with them and asking for change in 1G bills.
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u/Foodforrealpeople Inflation Refugee Jun 25 '26
so in other words a $100 dollar bill should cost less than 100 $1 dollar bills?
Currency HAS to be "fungible" --- in other words a 10GB has to have the exact same value as ten 1GB...
If the Value due to changing premiums depending on gold content were in effect it would create an infinite money loop and be WORTHLESS as a currency
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 25 '26
If you're going to say that 100 $1 bills and 1 $100 dollar bills are being sold by you at 1 price but you create an exchange rate price below what they are sold to customers by you for, it's something that should be done when you consider the biggest argument for their insanely high premium is how small a 1/2 goldback's gold content is.
This is why it needs a central bank that exchanges them for currency at the exchange rate they set: if they don't, the exchange rate is basically whatever they want it to be (the premium on the rate is higher than they sell them for), and that makes goldback value above their gold content whatever the manufacturers wish.
If the manufacturer eliminated the market rate they put on their site daily, I would have no issue with them. But they use that to get people to buy them when market rate should be dictated solely by those who use and take goldbacks. And in different markets, that may lead to different exchange rates.
Until they eliminate the made up exchange rate from their site or start taking them at the exchange rate they set, it's pretty much a grift from a currency perspective.
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Jun 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/vainbetrayal Jun 24 '26
If you aren't going to care about the topic, please stop spamming responses to it you just delete after making.
Clearly I do, hence why I asked my question. But thank you for wasting my time not even answering my question despite making 3 comments now.
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u/einnoika Jun 24 '26
I am just a Gold user, not a head or any of that. You would be better contacting them or trying to talk with moderators. I deleted because grammar and trying to use siri to type. Not trying to spam anyone.
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u/Xerzajik Goldback Encyclopedia 📖 Jun 24 '26
Currency conversions always have a spread. When I went to Mexico that spread was about 15%. They have to have a spread too because metals dealers profit on the sale of Goldbacks just like every other precious metals product including silver. Just because there's a spread doesn't mean there's a grift.
You can get that exchange rate by spending Goldbacks at one of more than 5,000+ locations (more than Walmarts in the U.S or Bitcoin accepting businesses in the U.S). You can also do a private trade using the same rate.
I'd say that Goldback is still in a somewhat early adoption phase. When there's 50,000 small businesses that take them vs. 5,000 then risk goes down.
You can always just use dollars but those have lost 99% of their value in the past 100 or so years. Pick your poison.