Monetary timeline bibliography
57 citations behind 30 dated events, in chronological order. Every link points at a public record — a statute, an executive order, a central-bank history or an official statistical series — so nothing on our timeline has to be taken on trust.
- 011792 · Monetary law
The Coinage Act defines the dollar as a weight of silver
Congress defined the dollar as 371.25 grains of fine silver, set gold at a fixed ratio, and made counterfeiting the coinage a capital offense.
- Coinage Act of 1792, full textLibrary of Congress, Statutes at Largehttps://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress.php
- History of the United States Mint and its coinageUS Minthttps://www.usmint.gov/learn/history
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#coinage-act-1792
- 021900 · Monetary law
Gold Standard Act: $20.67 buys one ounce of gold
Gold was made the single standard of value at $20.67 per troy ounce. A $20 gold piece contained very close to one ounce of gold, and a $20 note was redeemable for it.
- Gold Standard Act of 1900US Senate historical recordshttps://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Gold_Standard_Act.htm
- Historical gold price series, 1833–presentFederal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1381AUSM384NNBR
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#gold-standard-1900
- 03Dec 23, 1913 · Monetary law
The Federal Reserve Act creates the central bank
The Federal Reserve Act established twelve regional Reserve Banks, owned by their member commercial banks, coordinated by a Washington board, with the power to issue Federal Reserve Notes and set the terms of credit.
- Federal Reserve Act, December 23, 1913Federal Reserve Boardhttps://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fract.htm
- Federal Reserve Act — founding essayFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/federal-reserve-act-signed
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#federal-reserve-1913
- 04Oct 1929 · Crash
The Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression
Between the September 1929 peak and the July 1932 bottom, the Dow fell roughly 89%. Thousands of banks failed and depositor money simply vanished.
- Stock market crash of 1929Federal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/stock-market-crash-of-1929
- Dow Jones Industrial Average, historical recordS&P Dow Jones Indiceshttps://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/indices/equity/dow-jones-industrial-average/
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#crash-1929
- 05Apr 5, 1933 · Currency devaluation
Executive Order 6102 confiscates private gold
Americans were ordered to surrender gold coin, bullion and gold certificates to the Federal Reserve at $20.67 per ounce, with limited exemptions for collectible coins, jewelry and industry.
- Executive Order 6102, April 5, 1933 (scan)US National Archiveshttps://catalog.archives.gov/id/299963
- Roosevelt's gold programFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/roosevelts-gold-program
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#eo-6102
- 06Jun 16, 1933 · Banking law
The Banking Act creates the FDIC — because deposits were never risk-free
The Banking Act of 1933 separated commercial and investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. National deposit insurance began on January 1, 1934, covering up to $2,500 per depositor. The limit rose over the following decades — $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, $40,000, $100,000 — and reached $250,000, made permanent by the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010.
- The FDIC at 90: deposit insurance from $2,500 to $250,000FDIChttps://www.fdic.gov/90years
- Banking Act of 1933 (Glass–Steagall)Federal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/glass-steagall-act
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#banking-act-1933
- 07Jan 30, 1934 · Currency devaluation
The dollar is devalued to $35 an ounce
Months after buying gold at $20.67, the government revalued it at $35.00 an ounce — a roughly 41% reduction in the gold content of a dollar.
- Gold Reserve Act of 1934Federal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gold-reserve-act-of-1934
- Status report of US Treasury-owned goldUS Treasury, Fiscal Servicehttps://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/status-report-government-gold-reserve/
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#gold-reserve-act-1934
- 08Jul 1944 · Monetary law
The Bretton Woods Agreement makes the dollar the world's reserve
Forty-four nations met in New Hampshire and pegged their currencies to the US dollar, which remained convertible into gold at $35 an ounce for foreign governments. The IMF and World Bank were created here.
- Creation of the Bretton Woods systemFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/bretton-woods-created
- Cooperation and reconstruction, 1944–71International Monetary Fundhttps://www.imf.org/external/about/histcoop.htm
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#bretton-woods-1944
- 09Aug 15, 1971 · Currency devaluation
The Nixon Shock ends gold convertibility
President Nixon suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold, describing the step as temporary. It was never reversed. Within two years the world had moved to floating exchange rates.
- Address to the Nation on economic policy, August 15, 1971American Presidency Projecthttps://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-outlining-new-economic-policy-the-challenge-peace
- Gold convertibility endsFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gold-convertibility-ends
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#nixon-shock-1971
- 101973 – 1982 · Crash
The Great Inflation, and 20% interest rates
US consumer inflation peaked near 14.8% in 1980. Paul Volcker's Federal Reserve pushed the funds rate above 19% to break it, causing back-to-back recessions.
- The Great Inflation, 1965–1982Federal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-inflation
- CPI for all urban consumers, full annual seriesUS Bureau of Labor Statisticshttps://www.bls.gov/cpi/data.htm
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#great-inflation
- 11Mar 31, 1980 · Banking law
Deposit-rate ceilings are phased out (DIDMCA)
The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act began phasing out interest-rate ceilings on deposits, extended reserve requirements to more institutions, and raised federal deposit insurance from $40,000 to $100,000 per depositor.
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#didmca-1980
- 12Oct 15, 1982 · Banking law
Thrifts are given far wider powers (Garn–St Germain)
The Garn–St Germain Act allowed savings institutions to hold commercial real estate and commercial loans, offer money-market-style accounts, and use adjustable-rate mortgages.
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#garn-st-germain-1982
- 131986 – 1995 · Bank failure
The savings and loan collapse, FIRREA and the Resolution Trust Corporation
Roughly 1,000 savings institutions failed. FIRREA (1989) abolished the thrift regulator and its insurance fund, created the Resolution Trust Corporation to sell the wreckage, and put thrift insurance under the FDIC. Government audits placed the direct cost to taxpayers at roughly $124 billion.
- The savings and loan crisis and its relationship to bankingFDIC, History of the Eightieshttps://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/history/
- Resolving the thrift crisis — cost to taxpayersUS Government Accountability Officehttps://www.gao.gov/products/ggd-96-123
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#sl-crisis-firrea
- 14Nov 12, 1999 · Banking law
Gramm–Leach–Bliley repeals the Glass–Steagall separation
The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act repealed the parts of the 1933 Banking Act that separated commercial banking from securities underwriting and insurance, allowing financial holding companies to combine all three.
- Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, Public Law 106-102US Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/senate-bill/900
- Financial services modernization and its criticsFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/gramm-leach-bliley-act
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#gramm-leach-bliley-1999
- 15Sep 22, 1985 · Currency devaluation
The Plaza Accord: five governments agree to weaken the dollar
At the Plaza Hotel in New York, finance ministers of the US, Japan, West Germany, France and the UK agreed to intervene jointly to push the dollar down. Over the following two years it fell roughly 40% against the yen and the Deutsche Mark.
- Plaza Accord announcement, September 22, 1985Federal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/plaza-accord
- Nominal broad dollar index, historical seriesFederal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DTWEXBGS
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#plaza-accord-1985
- 16Feb 1987 · Policy
The Louvre Accord tries to stop the fall
The same governments met in Paris to halt the dollar's decline they had engineered eighteen months earlier.
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#louvre-accord-1987
- 171997 – 1998 · Crash
Asian crisis, Russian default, LTCM
Pegged Asian currencies broke, Russia defaulted, and a single hedge fund's leverage required a Fed-organised rescue to prevent broader failures.
- Monetary policy in the 1990sFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/time-periods/great-moderation
- S&P 500 historical index levelsFederal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SP500
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#sp-500-1990s
- 182000 – 2002 · Crash
The dot-com collapse erases about $5 trillion
The Nasdaq fell roughly 78% from its March 2000 peak. Widely cited estimates put the market value destroyed at around $5 trillion.
- NASDAQ Composite historical seriesFederal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NASDAQCOM
- US business cycle expansions and contractionsNational Bureau of Economic Researchhttps://www.nber.org/research/data/us-business-cycle-expansions-and-contractions
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#dotcom-2000
- 192007 – 2009 · Crash
The Global Financial Crisis erases roughly $17 trillion in US household wealth
Housing and mortgage credit collapsed. The S&P 500 fell about 57%, US home prices fell about 27%, Lehman Brothers failed, and Federal Reserve analyses estimate American households lost on the order of $17 trillion in net worth from the 2007 peak to the 2009 trough. TARP, ZIRP and quantitative easing followed.
- The financial crisis: a timeline of eventsFederal Reserve Historyhttps://www.federalreservehistory.org/timelines/financial-crisis
- Financial accounts of the United States (household net worth)Federal Reserve Board, Z.1 releasehttps://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#gfc-2008
- 20Oct 3, 2008 · Banking law
TARP, and the insurance limit rises to $250,000
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act authorised up to $700 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and temporarily raised the basic FDIC insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000. Separately, the Federal Reserve and Treasury extended trillions in liquidity, guarantees and swap lines.
- Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (TARP)US Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/house-bill/1424
- Deposit insurance limit and the Dodd-Frank ActFDIChttps://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/deposit-insurance-fund/dif-historical/dif-dodd-frank-act.html
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#eesa-tarp-2008
- 21Jul 21, 2010 · Banking law
Dodd-Frank: the $250,000 limit becomes permanent, and bail-in enters the law
The Dodd-Frank Act made the $250,000 insurance limit permanent, raised capital and stress-testing requirements, and created an orderly-liquidation authority for large financial companies under which losses fall on shareholders and certain creditors rather than taxpayers.
- Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection ActUS Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/4173
- Orderly liquidation authority and the treatment of creditorsFDIChttps://www.fdic.gov/resolutions/resolution-authority
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#dodd-frank-2010
- 222009 – 2015 · Policy
Quantitative easing normalises central-bank money creation
The Federal Reserve's balance sheet grew from under $1 trillion to roughly $4.5 trillion through successive rounds of bond buying, with interest rates held near zero for seven years.
- Total assets of the Federal Reserve (WALCL)Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL
- Credit and liquidity programs and the balance sheetFederal Reserve Boardhttps://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#qe-decade
- 23Mar 2020 · Crash
The COVID crash, and the fastest money creation in US history
Equities fell about 34% in a month. In response, roughly $5 trillion of fiscal support was authorised and the money supply (M2) expanded by about 40% in two years.
- M2 money stock, historical seriesFederal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
- CARES Act, Public Law 116-136US Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#covid-2020
- 24May 24, 2018 · Banking law
The 2018 law that raised the threshold for stricter bank oversight
The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act raised the asset threshold for automatic enhanced supervision of bank holding companies from $50 billion to $250 billion, with tailored treatment in between.
- Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018US Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2155
- Statement on Silicon Valley Bank and the 2018 lawOffice of Senator Bernie Sandershttps://www.sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/news-sanders-statement-on-silicon-valley-bank/
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#egrrcpa-2018
- 25Mar 2023 · Bank failure
Two large banks fail, and uninsured depositors are protected by decision
Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed within days, the second and third largest US bank failures at the time. A very large share of their deposits was above the insurance limit. Regulators invoked the systemic-risk exception and protected all depositors, insured and uninsured, funded by special assessments on the banking industry rather than an appropriation.
- Options for deposit insurance reform, including the 2023 failuresFDIChttps://www.fdic.gov/analysis/options-deposit-insurance-reform
- Review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley BankFederal Reserve Boardhttps://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/review-of-the-federal-reserves-supervision-and-regulation-of-silicon-valley-bank.htm
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#svb-2023
- 262022 – 2026 · Policy
Federal debt past $40 trillion, with interest now a top-line expense
Gross federal debt has passed $40 trillion. Annual interest on that debt now rivals or exceeds national defense spending.
- Debt to the penny — daily federal debt outstandingUS Treasury, Fiscal Servicehttps://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/
- The budget and economic outlook (interest cost projections)Congressional Budget Officehttps://www.cbo.gov/topics/budget
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#debt-41t
- 27Jul 18, 2025 · Digital era
The GENIUS Act brings dollar stablecoins into federal law
The GENIUS Act established the first federal framework for payment stablecoins: licensed issuers, full reserve backing in cash and short-term Treasuries, monthly reserve disclosures, and priority for coin-holders in an issuer's insolvency.
- GENIUS Act — bill text and statusUS Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582
- Stablecoin market structure and reserve holdingsBank for International Settlementshttps://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt2303e.htm
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#genius-act
- 282025 – 2026 · Digital era
Tokenized funds, Treasuries and the programmable dollar
Money-market funds, Treasuries and private credit are being issued as tokens on shared ledgers, with major asset managers and banks participating.
- Tokenisation of finance — reportBank for International Settlementshttps://www.bis.org/publ/othp84.htm
- Crypto-assets and tokenized markets: investor risksUS Securities and Exchange Commissionhttps://www.sec.gov/investor/alerts
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#tokenization
- 29Ongoing · Digital era
Cyber, custody and quantum risk to digital holdings
Exchange failures, custody collapses and record digital-asset fraud losses continue, while standards bodies push post-quantum cryptography migration ahead of a machine capable of breaking today's public-key encryption.
- Post-quantum cryptography standardsUS National Institute of Standards and Technologyhttps://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography
- Internet crime report — investment and crypto fraud lossesFBI Internet Crime Complaint Centerhttps://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#cyber-quantum
- 301913 → today · Currency devaluation
The long arithmetic: what a 1913 dollar buys now
By the government's own CPI series, a 1913 dollar retains roughly two to three cents of its original purchasing power. Over the same span, the $20.67 that bought an ounce of gold in 1913 buys a small fraction of an ounce today.
- CPI inflation calculator, 1913–presentUS Bureau of Labor Statisticshttps://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
- Consumer Price Index, all urban consumers (CPIAUCSL)Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL
Permalink: https://capstonemetals.com/education#purchasing-power
Compiled by Capstone Metals, a trade name of TB Alternative Assets LLC. Historical data is a record, never a prediction. Questions about any entry: (800) 200-9553.