Gold has an insurance status as it isn't someone elses debt. The US dollar is the debt of the US. The pound is the debt of the UK. Gold's value is intrinsic.
An example where this was useful was the meltdown in Argentina several years ago. The government seized or froze bank and retirement accounts.
If you had your money in a Lehman Brother account or in an account that was held by Lehman, you were toast because they failed which caused their counterparties to fail or lose money.
I'd suggest a bit of reading on precious metals with regard to how the founding fathers thought about money along with the elements of the constitution regarding gold and silver coinage. Decoupling the dollar from gold and silver got us into the fiat currency experiment. The experiment is ongoing.
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