"We need to distinguish between fiat currency (paper) and (real) money such as commodities. Governments will always cheat with fiat currency. Hence they ban the ownership of gold when the going gets tough. Gold is real money"
Money is any, and I mean ANY, generally acceptable mean of exchange, and historically has included metals, cattle, shells, tokens, cigarettes, etc.
"Coin debasement is the act of decreasing the amount of precious metal in a coin, while continuing to circulate it at face value. This was frequently done by governments in order to inflate the amount of currency in circulation;"
The banning of gold ownership or the impositions of ownership restrictions including in the Republic of South Africa had to do with the desire or need to stop people from hoarding gold, a.k.a. money which the central bank could not replace by just printing promissory notes.
Less money in circulation, higher the interest rates and, therefor, less credit available.
Nowadays gold is not a generally accepted means of payment, and therefore cannot be considered money. However monetary gold is still being used in the settlement of debts between central banks.
