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The State of Texas is in the process of setting up a gold-backed bank that will allow depositors to bypass the Federal Reserve System and its fiat currency in banking and commerce. Moreover, this depository is also a response to concerns that precious metals owned by the state are currently stored in other states. Backers of the measure assert that the State Depository would remove much of the uncertainty and safety concerns associated with the storage of precious metals elsewhere by providing dedicated storage of precious metal holdings for state agencies and investment organizations. They also say that the establishment of a Texas Bullion Depository would allow the state, state agencies, and private individuals to store precious metals utilizing a secure, Texasbased depository to reduce reliance on out-of-state facilities and to insulate their assets from unstable market forces.
In addition to repatriating approximately $1 billion of Texas gold from its current location in New York, House Bill 483 also creates the first state-level gold-backed bank in the nation that will, according to the law's supporters give consumers weary of the increasingly troubled traditional banking and monetary system, more alternatives and access to what many say will be a more honest and stable monetary system that is based on the use of gold and silver coin. A number of other states have, in recent years, also...