The red state gold rush: Why some lawmakers are pushing precious metals

Some red state lawmakers are floating legislation that would make it easier to use gold and silver as currency and to establish gold stockpiles.

Why it matters: Lawmakers say that the commodities are a good option for dealing with the burden of rising inflation because the value of gold and silver has increased, while the dollar has not.

• "Recognizing gold and silver as legal tender promotes economic justice," reads a https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/72464" target="_blank">draft bill in Georgia. "By allowing citizens of every economic status access to the ability to preserve their wealth by hedging against inflation with precious metals."

State of play: The Georgia legislation would authorize "mechanisms" that would let you pay for things in gold and silver, possibly using prepaid debit cards like those offered by Glint, a small U.K.-based company that supports the laws. (It failed to pass, but backers plan to try again.)

• Similar "transactional gold laws," have been proposed in https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/57leg/2R/bills/HB2123P.htm" target="_blank">Arizona, https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1937264" target="_blank">Oklahoma and https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/02/18/house-panel-advances-bills-to-make-gold-and-silver-legal-tender-lower-utility-costs/" target="_blank">Iowa — to varying degrees of success.
• Utah https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2026/03/26/utah-governor-vetoes-2-bills-wifi-on-rural-school-buses/" target="_blank">passed a law earlier this year.

Zoom in: Lawmakers emphasize that they just want to give people more options.

And no one is being forced to use gold or any gold-backed product instead of dollars.

• Most don't harbor any illusions that the U.S. is going back to the https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/09/gold-standard.asp" target="_blank">gold standard.
• "It's essentially just giving people another way of being paid," Utah state treasurer Marlo Oaks tells Axios.
• Utah also passed a bill in 2024 that allows the state to invest up to 10% of its "rainy day fund" in gold.

The big picture: The price of gold has been on a tear in recent years for a few reasons.

• First, the creation of gold ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, has made it much easier to buy and hold the asset.
• Gold has also gotten a boost from everyday investors.
• And central banks have increased their purchases of gold.

By the numbers: Gold is currently trading around $4,800 a troy ounce — that's less than where it was earlier in the year, but is still $1,000 more than it was this time in 2025.

Zoom out: That kind of price volatility is appealing to investors, but one of many reasons that gold doesn't make sense as a currency, as nearly any economist, or monetary and finance expert would tell you.

Between the lines: People have been obsessed with gold for centuries, says Jacob Goldstein, author of https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jacob-goldstein/money/9780316417181/" target="_blank">"Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing," a history of currency.

• "Gold is not money," he says. "It hasn't been money for many decades.

  It didn't work very well as money when it was money."

• But gold can feel like something outside of the government's control, he adds.
• "It takes the power of money away from the government to, you know, in some fundamental way, I think that is part of the appeal."