To my understanding nowadays gold as a mean of payment is only being used by central banks and the IMF, the bank of last resort of the central banks.
Outside that domain it is only being used as a reserve of value in the same way as a resident of Australia could use Euros, US dollars or collectables. for that same purpose.
Gold is said to have an intrinsic value because it requires a certain quantum of work to be extracted from gold bearing rocks.
"In economics, Gresham's law is a monetary principle stating that "bad money drives out good.""
Not all financial crises lead to a currency crisis. Actually, in the past a lack of confidence in the banking institutions quite often caused an extraordinary increase in the demand for money with very severe consequences.
Almost everyone prefers holding cash.
"A liquidity trap is a situation, described in Keynesian economics, in which, "after the rate of interest has fallen to a certain level, liquidity preference may become virtually absolute in the sense that almost everyone prefers holding cash rather than holding a debt (financial instrument) which yields so low a rate of interest."
If you fear for your money in the bank, what are you going to do? You rush to get it out in order to put it under your mattress, forcing banks to cut credit, the life blood of the economy and in that way bringing the real economy into a halt.
During the great depression when gold was money people were doing just that, a fact that led to the confiscation of almost all gold in the hands of the American public. as gold, that is, money, and gold, that iis money was being taking out of circulation. During the great recession hips of money were printed without hyperinflation having shown its ugly head again because the preference for liquidity (money) was very high.
I strongly suggest for you to review your ideas about what money is and what it is used for. An investment in an elementary book about money and banking would be appropriate.
