When the central government faces debt problems, the central government and central bank usually take a combination of the following measures: a) Increase the supply of money and credit, b) Reduce the total amount of debt (e.g. through debt restructuring), and/or c) Prevent free market ownership and flow of hard currencies such as gold. In this situation, people often flee from low-quality currency to high-quality currency (such as gold), and the government wants to prevent this behavior. This often leads to a ban on the free holding and free flow of high-quality currencies --Ray. Dario, founder of Bridgewater Fund Supplementary Information: Executive Order 6102, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Private ownership of large amounts of gold is prohibited.