Texas Embraces Gold and Silver for Everyday Payments
Abbott emphasised that the move draws upon Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution, which restricts states from issuing currency other than gold or silver coins. Although federal reserve notes will remain lawful, the new law permits their coexistence and makes acceptance of precious metals optional for businesses and consumers.
Supporters regard the law as a historic step toward financial sovereignty, providing residents with greater control over their assets. The initiative is the latest in Texas's broader push toward alternative currencies, complementing the establishment of a state strategic bitcoin reserve. Advocates say this diversification could act as a hedge against inflation and enhance the resilience of the state's economy.
ADVERTISEMENT
The meteoric trajectory from legislative passage to effective implementation is significant, but practical details remain in development. Texans will deposit metals into accounts at the Texas Bullion Depository in Leander and access them using a debit-card system. Each transaction will convert metal to dollar value based on comptroller-set pricing, though specifics on fees and merchant participation are yet to be disclosed.
While market reaction has been measured, analysts predict the legislation could lift local demand for physical gold and silver, particularly if residents embrace the option. Economists also note that instituting this system requires robust authentication and verification mechanisms, as stakeholders raise concerns over counterfeit metal use.
Retailers might face logistical hurdles, including securing reliable point-of-sale systems and managing valuations for fluctuating metal prices. Abbott's office has indicated that public education campaigns and pilot programmes are planned to facilitate adoption.
Texas is the first state to operationalise gold and silver for daily commerce on this scale, though several states maintain statutes recognising their role as legal tender without establishing transaction mechanisms. Prior experiments in alternative currency systems include 'Goldbacks,' privately issued gold notes accepted in select locations, but these lacked legal backing at the state level.
The new law's dual focus on precious metals and bitcoin underscores Texas's ambition to position itself at the forefront of monetary innovation. By leveraging constitutional provisions, state officials aim to expand the toolkit available to residents and businesses, offering both tangible and digital currency options.
Nonetheless, detractors caution that the metal-based system may complicate transactions and add regulatory burdens. Verification protocols, pricing transparency and merchant liability issues will need careful management to avoid undermining public confidence. Texas's comptroller is expected to issue guidance on these matters in the coming months to ensure a smooth rollout.
Implementation will proceed incrementally over the next 22 months, with the comptroller's office overseeing regulatory design and infrastructure setup. If executed effectively, the scheme could serve as a model for other states contemplating alternatives to fiat currency; if not, it may highlight the complexity of adding precious metals to everyday monetary flows.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
12-07-2025
- Khaleej Times
Trump voices shock at Texas flood damage: 'Never seen anything like this'
US President Donald Trump spoke Friday of seeing devastation like he'd never before experienced as he toured parts of Texas hit by devastating flash floods that have left at least 120 people dead, including dozens of children. The Republican leader and First Lady Melania Trump were in the Hill Country of central Texas to meet first responders, victims' families and local officials, a week after a rain-swollen river swept away houses, camp cabins, cars and people. "This is a tough one. I've never seen anything like this," Trump said at a roundtable meeting in Kerrville, in the worst-affected Kerr County. "I've gone to a lot of hurricanes, a lot of tornadoes. I've never seen anything like this. This is a bad one." Trump lashed out at reporters for questioning authorities' response to the disaster and said he wanted to focus on solidarity with emergency workers and volunteers. "All across the country, Americans' hearts are shattered," said Trump, speaking at a table draped in a black banner with the message "Texas Strong." "I had to be here as president. The first lady wanted to be here." He compared the suddenly rising floodwaters to a "giant wave in the Pacific Ocean that the best surfers in the world would be afraid to surf." Earlier, the Trumps were met by Governor Greg Abbott near the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, in an area with numerous downed trees and an overturned tractor trailer. They were briefed by Texas Emergency Management and Kerrville Fire Dept officials, and greeted by 30 or so rescue workers and Coast Guard members. The search for more than 170 missing people, including five girls who were at summer camp, was in its eighth day as rescue teams combed through mounds of debris and mud. But with no live rescues reported this week, worries have swelled that the death toll could still rise. Trump has brushed off questions about the impact of his cuts to federal agencies on the response to the flood, which he described as a "100-year catastrophe" that "nobody expected." On Thursday, Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem, who was with Trump in Texas, defended the immediate response as "swift and efficient." But Texas officials have faced questions about why emergency evacuation messages to residents and visitors along the flooding Guadalupe River reportedly were delayed, in some cases by hours. Trump expressed support for a flood warning system in a telephone interview with NBC News on Thursday. FEMA questions The floods, among America's deadliest in recent years, have reopened questions about Trump's plans to phase out federal disaster response agency FEMA in lieu of greater state-based responsibility. FEMA began its response to the Texas flash floods over the weekend after Trump signed a major disaster declaration to release federal resources. But the president has so far avoided addressing questions about its future. Noem insisted FEMA should be "eliminated" in its current form at a government review meeting Wednesday. Officials in Kerr County, which sits astride the Guadalupe River in an area nicknamed "Flash Flood Alley," said at least 36 children were killed in the disaster at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Details have surfaced about reported delays to early alerts at a local level that could have saved lives. Experts say forecasters did their best and sent out timely and accurate warnings despite a sudden weather change. ABC News reported Thursday that at 4:22am on July 4, a firefighter in Ingram, upstream of Kerrville, had asked the Kerr County Sheriff's Office to alert residents of nearby Hunt to the coming flood. The network said its affiliate KSAT obtained audio of the call, and that the first alert did not reach Kerr County's CodeRED system for a full 90 minutes. In some cases, it said, the warning messages didn't arrive until after 10:00 am, when hundreds of people had already been swept away. The flooding of the Guadalupe River was particularly devastating for summer camps on its banks, including Camp Mystic, where 27 girls and counselors died.
ARN News Center
05-07-2025
- ARN News Center
At least 24 dead in Texas flash flooding
Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said. Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said. At a news conference late on Friday, almost 18 hours after the July Fourth crisis began, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said search-and-rescue operations would press on through the night and into Saturday. Abbott said resources devoted to the effort would be "limitless." Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of a day of public events, President Donald Trump said "we'll take care of them," when asked about federal aid for the disaster. The US National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County in south-central Texas Hill Country, about 105 kilometres northwest of San Antonio, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as 30 centimetres of rain. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe swiftly rose above major flood stage. "This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar," Rice said. "This happened within less than a two-hour span." State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats "over the next couple days," citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend. But the weather forecasts in question "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told a news conference on Friday night. July Fourth fireworks displays ended up being canceled in flood-stricken communities throughout the region, including Kerrville, where the waterfront site for Friday night's planned US Independence Day celebration was submerged by the rain-swollen river. At Friday night's briefing, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 24 flood-related fatalities had been confirmed, up from 13 tallied earlier in the day. One more person found dead in neighboring Kendall County was not confirmed to be a flood-related casualty, Leitha said. PRAYERS FOR THE MISSING Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Friday afternoon that authorities were searching for 23 girls listed as missing from among more than 750 children at summer camp sites along the banks of the Guadalupe River when the area was inundated by floodwaters at around 4.00 a.m. local time. The missing campers had all been attending Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls. "We're praying for all those missing to be found alive," Patrick said. It was not clear whether anyone unaccounted for might have ended up among the deceased victims tallied countywide by the sheriff. Otherwise, all other campers were safe, authorities said, with campers being evacuated throughout the day. "Everybody is doing everything in their power to get these kids out," Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official, had said at a news briefing on the disaster hours earlier. Kelly said a number of scattered residential subdivisions, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds were hit hard. Pressed by reporters why more precautions were not taken with stormy weather in the forecast, Kelly insisted a disaster of such magnitude was unforeseen. "We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States," Kelly said. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever." In an alert on Thursday, the Texas Division of Emergency Management said it had increased its readiness level and "activated additional state emergency response resources" as parts of west and central Texas braced "for continued heavy rainfall and flash flooding threats heading into the holiday weekend." Lieutenant Governor Patrick said the Guadalupe River had risen eight metres in 45 minutes as heavy showers soaked the region. As of Friday night, emergency personnel had rescued or evacuated 237 people, including 167 by helicopter. With additional rain forecast in the region, Patrick warned that an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding extended from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours. On Friday night, Governor Abbott signed a disaster declaration to hasten emergency assistance to Kerr and a cluster of additional counties hardest hit by the floods. Personnel from the US Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency also were activated to assist local authorities in confronting the crisis, officials said.
Dubai Eye
05-07-2025
- Dubai Eye
At least 24 dead in Texas flash flooding
Torrential rains unleashed flash floods along the Guadalupe River in Texas on Friday, killing at least 24 people as rescue teams scrambled to save dozens of victims trapped by high water or reported missing in the disaster, local officials said. Among the missing were 23 to 25 people listed as unaccounted for at an all-girls Christian summer camp located on the banks of the rain-engorged Guadalupe, authorities said. At a news conference late on Friday, almost 18 hours after the July Fourth crisis began, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said search-and-rescue operations would press on through the night and into Saturday. Abbott said resources devoted to the effort would be "limitless." Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One at the end of a day of public events, President Donald Trump said "we'll take care of them," when asked about federal aid for the disaster. The US National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency for parts of Kerr County in south-central Texas Hill Country, about 105 kilometres northwest of San Antonio, following thunderstorms that dumped as much as 30 centimetres of rain. Dalton Rice, city manager for Kerrville, the county seat, told reporters the extreme flooding struck before dawn with little or no warning, precluding authorities from issuing advance evacuation orders as the Guadalupe swiftly rose above major flood stage. "This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time that could not be predicted, even with radar," Rice said. "This happened within less than a two-hour span." State emergency management officials had warned as early as Thursday that west and central Texas faced heavy rains and flash flood threats "over the next couple days," citing National Weather Service forecasts ahead of the holiday weekend. But the weather forecasts in question "did not predict the amount of rain that we saw," W. Nim Kidd, director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told a news conference on Friday night. July Fourth fireworks displays ended up being canceled in flood-stricken communities throughout the region, including Kerrville, where the waterfront site for Friday night's planned US Independence Day celebration was submerged by the rain-swollen river. At Friday night's briefing, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said 24 flood-related fatalities had been confirmed, up from 13 tallied earlier in the day. One more person found dead in neighboring Kendall County was not confirmed to be a flood-related casualty, Leitha said. PRAYERS FOR THE MISSING Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said on Friday afternoon that authorities were searching for 23 girls listed as missing from among more than 750 children at summer camp sites along the banks of the Guadalupe River when the area was inundated by floodwaters at around 4.00 a.m. local time. The missing campers had all been attending Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls. "We're praying for all those missing to be found alive," Patrick said. It was not clear whether anyone unaccounted for might have ended up among the deceased victims tallied countywide by the sheriff. Otherwise, all other campers were safe, authorities said, with campers being evacuated throughout the day. "Everybody is doing everything in their power to get these kids out," Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the top local elected official, had said at a news briefing on the disaster hours earlier. Kelly said a number of scattered residential subdivisions, recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds were hit hard. Pressed by reporters why more precautions were not taken with stormy weather in the forecast, Kelly insisted a disaster of such magnitude was unforeseen. "We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States," Kelly said. "We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever." In an alert on Thursday, the Texas Division of Emergency Management said it had increased its readiness level and "activated additional state emergency response resources" as parts of west and central Texas braced "for continued heavy rainfall and flash flooding threats heading into the holiday weekend." Lieutenant Governor Patrick said the Guadalupe River had risen eight metres in 45 minutes as heavy showers soaked the region. As of Friday night, emergency personnel had rescued or evacuated 237 people, including 167 by helicopter. With additional rain forecast in the region, Patrick warned that an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding extended from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours. On Friday night, Governor Abbott signed a disaster declaration to hasten emergency assistance to Kerr and a cluster of additional counties hardest hit by the floods. Personnel from the US Coast Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Agency also were activated to assist local authorities in confronting the crisis, officials said.
