Paper money was never supposed to be the money.

It was a receipt.

You deposited gold at a bank.
The bank gave you a note that said:

"The bearer of this note may redeem it for X amount of gold."

That's all a dollar was. A claim ticket.

The paper had no value.
The gold in the vault did.
The paper just made it easier to carry.

This system worked for centuries.
Every major currency was backed this way.
The British pound.
The French franc.
The U.S. dollar.

Then, slowly, governments realized something:

If people trust the paper,
they never come for the gold.
So they printed more notes than they had gold.
Then more.
Then more.

When too many people asked questions,
they closed the gold window.

That was supposed to be temporary.

55 years later, the dollar is still backed by nothing
but trust. And that trust has cost you 97% of your purchasing power.

The receipt became the money.
Global money became trust-based.

And money became nothing but a promise
that nobody has to keep.