Fiat (Latin: fiat – “let it be done”)
An imperative. A command.
From the same root as “fiat lux” — “let there be light.”
The ruler speaks, and the money exists because the ruler says so. In practice, modern fiat has become fiat plus force. Value is maintained not merely by decree, but by the implied threat that if you refuse the currency, you will be fined, imprisoned, or worse.
The dollar is accepted because the U.S. government demands taxes be paid in it, and because the world’s most powerful military stands ready to protect its dominance. That is not trust. That is coercion wearing the mask of law.

Fides (Latin: fides – “faith, trust, reliability”)
The root of fidelity, confidence, confide. The mutual bond between citizens who freely choose to honor each other’s labor tomorrow because they trust the system will honor theirs today. Fides currency has no imperative. It has no threat behind it. It has no central decree.

Its value arises from one source alone: the voluntary, collective faith of the people who back it with their own productive capacity and who share proportionally in the interest it generates.

Fiat says:
“This is money because I command it, and I have the power to make you obey.”

Fides says:
“This is money because we trust each other to keep the promise we made to one another — and every one of us gets paid to keep that promise alive.

Fiat is money by force. Fides is money by faith. One is the currency of empires.
The other is the currency of free people. We have lived under fiat for fifty years. The word has been waiting since Rome. The idea has been waiting since 1776.The time is now.

Fides. The currency of a people who finally trust themselves enough to own their own future. That is the difference. And once you see it, you can never un-see it. Welcome to the future. It runs on trust. And the trust is ours.