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Many of you know this but in the last century, money changed three times:
1. 1933-1934
During the Great Depression, the US government banned the ownership of gold. Citizens were required by law to turn in their gold for dollars at $20.67 per ounce.
Shortly after people turned in their gold, the US government revalued gold at 35$ per ounce, effectively devaluing the dollar overnight.
2. 1944-1971
After World War II, a new system was created: the Bretton Woods system. The US dollar became the world's reserve currency, convertible to gold at $35 per ounce for foreign governments & central banks. Most global trade and reserves were held in dollars, while gold was stored in US government vaults. This system worked until foreign claims on US gold exceeded available reserves.
3. 1971
The US ended gold convertibility entirely. Money was backed by trust, institutions and policy.
Under the gold standard and Bretton Woods, the Federal Reserve’s ability to expand the money supply was constrained by gold convertibility. After Bretton Woods ended in 1971, those constraints disappeared, giving the Fed far greater discretion to create liquidity
Most of the US gold reserve (8 metric tons of gold) was accumulated before 1971, first through domestic gold confiscation in the 1930s and later through foreign gold inflows under the Bretton Woods system as dollars were exchanged for gold.
The same \~8,000 tons of US gold were valued at \~$5B in 1933, \~$9B after the 1934 revaluation, and would be worth over $1.25T today at market prices.
This lead to assets going up in value drastically.
\- Today gold is valued at $4,880 per ounce. That means the dollar has lost it's value 233 times to gold since the 1930s.
\- Equities performed very well, despite early volatility. The S&P 500 rose from 90 in the early 1970s to almost hitting 7,000 recently (trading around 6,800 as I am writing this).
\- Real Estate compounded strongly. The Average Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States (ASPUS - a statistic from FRED) went from $19,300 in 1963 to $512,800 in Q2 of 2025.
\- Silver oscillated between monetary and industrial roles, rising from roughly $1.50/oz in the early 1970s to \~$95/oz today.
\- Oil repriced meaningfully going from 3$ per barrel in the early 70s to \~60$ per barrel.
Early stock markets were far more volatile than today. During the Great Depression equities fell nearly 90%.
Over time, owning productive businesses proved resilient not because volatility disappeared, but because companies could adapt and reprice under new monetary rules.
Gold followed a similar path, from money to restricted asset, to restricted reserve and finally a long-term hedge against currency debasement.
Today, digital assets exist alongside the traditional assets mentioned above and they appear to be at an earlier stage of that same maturation process. Bitcoin introduced a globally transferable asset with a hard capped supply.
Whether this asset ultimately becomes a long term store of value, settlement infrastructure or simply another category of risk asset is still uncertain.
How do you think monetary policy will evolve? Do you think digital assets have a part in this evolution?