Utah could become the first state in America to pay its bills with gold and silver instead of dollars — if conspiracy theorists who believe global elites are plotting to install a totalitarian government by manipulating the world’s money supply get their way.
In the just-completed 2025 legislative session, lawmakers passed HB306, sponsored by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan. The bill created a system for the state to pay vendors in gold or silver – the first such government payment system in the U.S.
Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed the bill because integrating the ability to pay vendors with gold and silver into the state’s current financial system created a number of logistical problems.
Legislative leaders initially balked at the $177,000 price tag for developing the precious-metal backed payment system. The solution came from an unexpected source: Kevin Freeman, author and host of the Economic War Room Podcast, who personally offered to fund the entire project.
Freeman’s most recent book is the self-published “Pirate Money: Discovering the Founders’ Hidden Plan for Economic Justice and Defeating the Great Reset.” In that book, he argues individual states should use precious metals (gold and silver) as legal tender.
Even though lawmakers saw no problem with the arrangement proposed by Freeman, it was too much for Cox, who worried having a private donor funding the legislation “could jeopardize the required competitive bid process in the bill.”
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Despite Ivory's assurances about Freeman's neutrality, the author's connections to potential vendors raise questions. Freeman mentions Glint Pay, a gold-payment app, 15 times in "Pirate Money," including a passionate endorsement on page 23:
"If I could wave a magic wand, I'd start with something like Glint and make it legal tender so it couldn't be taxed as a commodity…I'd promise privacy and back it by my home state, Texas. I'd hold a good part of my money there in gold and silver, pay for stuff with gold and silver, and never worry about bank runs or inflation."
Notably, Glint was one of only two companies that presented their precious metal currency platform to Utah's Precious Metals Workgroup last year—a workgroup where Freeman himself served and helped author the final report recommending Utah adopt such a platform.
Beyond these immediate concerns, Freeman’s motivations appear rooted in something far more controversial than monetary policy.
At the heart of Freeman’s crusade lies the “Great Reset” conspiracy theory — a belief that a shadowy cabal of global elites are orchestrating worldwide crises to establish a totalitarian government. The theory’s name comes from a 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) initiative aimed at addressing inequality and climate change. However, conspiracy theorists like Freeman see something far more sinister.
In "Pirate Money," Freeman dedicates an entire chapter to these alleged threats. When COVID-19 failed to usher in the totalitarian takeover conspiracists predicted, Freeman moved the goalposts. Now, he warns, shadowy elites plan to manufacture an economic crisis to achieve their goals.
“Here is the most important point of the chapter. Yes, there is a coming economic storm. Yes, the World Economic Forum and elitists plan to use the crisis to grab control. But they will need MONEY to do it. When they flip the game board, they will attempt to grab total control of money and we must not let them do it.”
Freeman argues abandoning the gold standard was the first step toward this dystopian future. He claims the ultimate weapon will be Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)—what he calls "programmable money"—which elites will use to control and punish people or force compliance. Similar warnings apparently resonated with Utah lawmakers, who passed HB164 in 2024 to ban CBDC in the state.
Freeman paints a dark picture of how this economic power would be wielded.
“The elites plan to silence you, ostracize you, and punish you unless you go along. We see that already in their ESG and DEI mandates. You must toe the line in regard to the Climate agenda, the race agenda, the gender agenda, and everything else.”
“The Great Reset folks have to have programmable money. It’s how they plan to control people and the economy, expanding the money supply at a whim and cutting it off as needed to achieve their objective.”
His solution? A return to precious metals as currency, which he claims would be a safeguard against such manipulation.
Freeman also takes frequent aim at WEF founder Klaus Schwab, whom he dubs “Dr. Evil.” According to “Pirate Money,” Schwab’s master plan includes eliminating capitalism, imposing government-rationed healthcare, and mandating universal vaccination.
Among the other horrors from the “Great Reset” Freeman lists in his book:
- Forced elimination of private vehicles ("taking away your ability to escape")
- Ban on personal home ownership ("ending the American Dream and your hope for privacy")
- Mandatory switch from meat to insect-based protein ("no, really, that's the plan")
- “A new religion and new bible written by artificial intelligence” (while banning traditional faiths).
- Complete revision of history "to make everything we know and love to be evil"
Most terrifyingly, according to Freeman, Schwab aims to reduce the population to “sustainable levels” - meaning “dignified deaths for the weak” and “very few babies” being born.
Far-right groups like the Utah Eagle Forum are pressuring lawmakers to override Cox’s veto of the legislation. Ivory has told supporters there’s enough support for a veto override session among his House colleagues. The Senate polled members this week, but those results are still unknown.
