Have you heard or seen the term “fiat money”?
Wikipedia explains that the term “fiat money” derives from the Latin fiat (“let it be done”, “it shall be”), which hints at the arbitrary nature of the money. In contrast to “representative money” that is backed by gold or silver, and which entails the legal requirement that the bank of issue redeem it in fixed weights of gold or silver, fiat money is money without intrinsic value, but is simply money declared by a government to be legal tender, which is neither convertible by law to any other thing, nor fixed in value in terms of any objective standard.
