[jerf]

No, real world currencies are based on the fact that the issuing government accepts it as payment of debts to that government. The fundamental base of the US dollar is that the taxes you owe the US must be paid in US dollars. The rest of its value extends out transitively from there. But it is not baseless, it is built on the fact that if you do not give the US government the dollars it thinks it deserves, it will come and put you in jail.

If this ceases to be a credible threat, it's actually quite amazing to me how quickly a government's currency can become nothing but so much paper, which argues strongly against the idea that the value is arbitrary.