[dnautics]

gold as a storage of value makes no logical sense

1) it's relatively rare 2) it's easily minted into objects of consistent mass. 3) because of quantum mechanics, gold has a yellow color. This makes it easy to verify gold content without advanced technology. You take a set of "gold standards", say, 99%, 90%, 80%, 75%, and then make a series of streaks against a black rock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_%28assaying_tool%29). Then you take your sample and make a cross-streak. Then you and your trading partner can agree upon an approximate purity level at which you are willing to make the trade for goods.

currencies will be backed by actual work that provides social and economical value

Who decides what this value is? By hours consumed? Is one hour of sitting on your butt playing a video game worth the same as one hour helping to build a rocket that is destined to try to destroy a (hypothetical) asteroid on a collision course with the planet? How about by "type of work"? Well then, is one hour sitting on your butt playing a video game worth the same as one hour sitting on your butt playing a video game in a playtesting environment?