Indeed, but they are still representations of gold and are for all legal purposes equivalent to gold. When you convert them to gold, you don&#x27;t spend money on gold, since they are one and the same and you can convert the gold back at any time. It&#x27;s technically not different from changing banknotes to coins or wwithdrawing cash from your bank account.<p>I don&#x27;t see why you think that the link is relevant. It would apply if there were gold and silver standards simultaneously, for example, but that&#x27;s not what is being discussed.