Nearly a third of American respondents think that the U.S. dollar is backed by gold, according to a poll conducted by Genesis Mining.
The findings of the study, “Perceptions of Money and Banking in the United States 2019” involved 1,000 respondents and showed that 29 percent of those that took part believe that the greenback is backed by the yellow metal.
The dollar has not been backed by gold since 1971 when it became solely a fiat currency and exchange rates were free-floating. The survey shows that some Americans have yet to catch wind of this change almost five decades later.
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Misconceptions surrounding the U.S. dollar seem to be widespread, with almost a quarter of respondents unsure about what the dollar is backed by.
The validity of such a poll may be questionable. The study was conducted by Genesis Mining, a cryptocurrency mining company that could arguably stand to benefit from undermining fiat currencies in favor of bitcoin, which it considers to be “the currency of the future”.
The survey was carried out with the objective of determining how well the average U.S. consumer understands the concepts behind banking, fiat money, and the Federal Reserve.
When questioned about “who decides that more dollars be printed”, 18 percent of the respondents had no answer, 58 percent believed it was the Federal Reserve and the third-highest response was that the U.S. government is responsible for that decision.
If you guessed that it’s the fed, you guessed right.
