Texas Greenlights Gold and Silver as Legal Tender
Austin, TX keeps rewriting the monetary rulebook. House Bill 1056, cleared by both chambers in late May, designates properly marked gold and silver “specie” as legal tender in the Lone Star State starting September 1, 2026. A second phase—launching no later than May 1, 2027—authorizes an electronic payment rail fully backed by bullion stored in the Texas Bullion Depository. While Federal Reserve notes remain king for now, the measure lays fresh track for Texans who prefer metal over paper or pixel money.
Unlike commemorative coins that often carry eyebrow-raising premiums, qualifying pieces under H.B. 1056 need only display weight and purity and may carry a private refiner’s stamp—just no hints of sovereign issuance. The act specifies that no person or business can be forced to accept the shiny stuff, sidestepping the usual “cash-only” grumbles from merchants. Supporters see the voluntary approach as a constitutional workaround that respects contract freedom while widening transactional choice.
The bill also sketches out the digital future of hard money. The comptroller may license electronic platforms that let consumers send fractions of ounces with smartphone ease, all fully redeemable in physical metal. Fees must be “reasonable and necessary,” and pricing must reflect commercially available spot quotes at the moment of each transfer—critical guardrails in a world where a Monday rally pushed gold to $3,308 per ounce. Notably, vendors headquartered in Texas receive preference when bidding to build the system, signaling lawmakers’ desire to keep bullion-tech jobs on home soil.
Security provisions read like a hedge against both hackers and hostile regimes. The comptroller must adopt rules to thwart fraud and block transactions tied to any “foreign adversary.” That language mirrors federal export-control statutes and may placate skeptics who worry that a gold rail could become a sanctions-busting playground. At the same time, the bill reiterates—twice—that nothing in the act restricts good old coins or Federal Reserve notes, an olive branch to critics fretting over legal-tender fragmentation.
With Washington debating digital-only central-bank currencies and inflation still nibbling at every paycheck, Texas is betting that a metal-backed alternative—both physical and electronic—will resonate with citizens eager for sturdier purchasing power. Whether other states follow or stick with fiat and flashy crypto tokens remains to be seen, but the Lone Star signal is loud: sound money is making a comeback, one troy ounce at a time.
