Money, in one form or another, has been used by man for centuries. At first it was mainly gold or silver coins. Goods were traded versus other goods or against gold. So, the price of gold got a reference point. But as the trading of goods grew among nations, moving quantities of gold around places to settle payments of trade became cumbersome, risky and time consuming. Therefore, a system was sought by which the payment of trades could be resolved in the seller's local currency. But how much of buyer's local currency should be equal to the seller's local currency?

The answer was simple. The strength of a country's currency depended on the amount of gold reserves the country preserved. So, if country A's gold reserves are double the gold reserves of country B, country A's currency will be twice in value when exchanged with the currency of country B. During the first World War, in order to meet the tremendous financing needs, paper money was created in quantities that far exceeded the gold reserves.