Why wouldn`t they then fractionalize it, say 1 USD = 1/8 or ounce Au ?
1 USD = 1/8 ounce Au *
total money in the world: $46.5 trillion (link)
total gold in the world: 5.3 billion troy ounces (link)
for the world's money supply to be gold based... gold would have to be:
$46,500,000,000,000 / 5,300,000,000 = $ 8,774 / oz
if the money supply were to be based off a commodity basket where gold was 25-35%, then the value per ounce would be lower.
technically, it's already based on some relationship with the various commodities.. the ratios are just not set