AOCS Rounds

AOCS stands for American Open Currency Standard and is a non-profit organization opposed to fiat money and wishing to expedite the use of metal as money. In accordance with its mission, AOCS grants approval to new currencies, helps new currency issuers to establish brand identity, and encourages merchants to accept AOCS-approved currencies. AOCS was started in 2007 by Robert Gray, who was formerly a Regional Currency Office for Liberty Dollar and was the Executive Director of AOCS.

The American Open Currency Standard—widely known as AOCS—was developed to allow gold, silver and copper to be used in commercial trade and barter. Coins that are AOCS Approved should not be confused with the Liberty Dollar, which was discontinued after a lengthy court battle. AOCS is part of a legal bartering system, and does not claim to be legal tender.

AOCS established the standards by which any private group wanting to design their own currency would have to adhere to in order to have access to the AOCS merchant database, as well as the favorable manufacturing rates for their specie. For starters, partnerships with several private mints noted for their excellence were established. All coins were required to be designed to exact specifications with specific markings; most notably, that they be .999 troy ounces of fine silver, that a uniform “trade value” be indicated by a universal typeface, and that they indicate approval as an AOCS currency. For the first time, a standard for competitive silver barter currencies was established, which allowed for different private groups to promote their regional currencies independently, yet utilize a universal valuation which provided firms and households with interchangeability. The concept of a voluntary barter currency which could legally function along side the U.S. dollar was realized at a national level. As of February, 2010, there were over 26,000 business firms conducting commerce with AOCS currency, and 22 independent currencies being privately minted which conformed to AOCS standards.

The organization came to an end in 2013 with the rise of Bitcoin. The rounds themselves were not produced by AOCS, but rather by several mints in which they partnerships such as Mulligan Mint and Highland Mint. All the silver rounds produced under the auspices of this organization were minted with .999 Fine Silver. Copper rounds were also produced. The following is a list of AOCS alternate approved currencies: John Galt rounds, Free Lakota Bank, Mises Institute, Republic of Texas, Boulder Gaians, Andrew Jackson, Second Amendment Silver, Ron Paul rounds, Barter is Better, Ag Trading Post, Legalize It, The Spirit Medallion, We Surround Them, The Dixie Dollar, Lawful Money, Coin of the Realm, The Survival Podcast, TRTAM, The American Silver Dirham, Tenth Amendment Center, Freedoms Phoenix, Free State Project, We the People Foundation, Candidate Currency, Soto Nation of Turtle Island, The Forgotten Founders, and Talk Radio Patriot.

AOCS Products

     • Silver Bullet/Silver Shield series
     • Mises Institute rounds
     • Free Lakota Bank rounds
     • Crow Nation rounds
     • Miscellaneous 1 Oz rounds
     • Miscellaneous fractional rounds