No, these notions of a centralized issuer of currency are nothing more than fancies to establish a new reserve-type central currency authority. This is the very same organization we have labored to get rid of with the creation of bitcoins. Gold's value does not derive from it's acceptance by some currency-issuing central body, but by the fact that people recognize its worth as a store of value - gold can be currency, it does not need to back it. Immanuel is right to point out that Bitcoin is analogous to gold, and like Bitcoin, it does not need a central authority to give it value. Such authority is only necessary for intrinsically worthless media of exchange - that is, fiat currencies, whose worth comes to us from the barrel of a gun.

To back Bitcoin with gold is the same as backing silver with gold - it makes no sense when one is as good a store of value as the other. It is unnecessary. All that aside, I would like to see an exchange to allow the conversion of gold and bitcoins. I'll say, though, that such a business will need be quite transparent and forthright with me before I would hand over any of my gold - the present exchanges, for instance, strike me as suspicious organizations. I keep an eye on them, and in time, perhaps I will trust them. For now, however, I keep my Bitcoins - and my gold! - safe with me at all times.