/biz/ - Business & Finance

Can someone explain how gold/silver aren't "fiat" currency as well? I think I get fiat currency in that it's valuable because people agree it is and I obviously understand bartering goods that have immediate value (food, textiles, etc), but how are metals not the former? Coins have no actual value to the average person. No peasant was melting coins for its industrial uses, it was simply something valuable because other people accepted it was valuable too.