Nonsense.
Only someone who has NEVER traded gold in the wild would make such an absurd statement. Many a gold-plated watch has been marketed as "solid gold", and electroplated jewelry fools dillettantes time and again.
To guard against such counterfeits, real gold traders actually insist that gold be melted down and tested before each trade, something that I ran into when dealing with a certain Swiss bank some years ago when I simply wanted to park some of the ugly yellow metal there.
Likewise, compare the effects of standing on a street corner holding up a gold bar versus holding up a $100 bill.
The C note will get you a cab or into your favorite club time and again, whereas people will actively *AVOID* your gold bar like the plague.
If you want "intrinsic" value, then BUY something intrinsic with your paper currency, such as guns, ammo, food, water, clothes, oil, or land.
But don't try to use intrinsic value as a currency. That's called "bartering", and that system was surpassed millenia ago as the superior medium of exchange.
Nor is money "created" with or by debt. Money is two things: a store of value and a medium of exchange. In other words, currency is *labor* stored in an easily transferable form.
If money could simply be created by borrowing, then Africa would be the wealthiest continent on the planet right now!
But money isn't simply created by borrowing, but rather, money represents all of the productive labor for a nation. The more productive a nation, the more the sum of all the nation's currency becomes worth, which in turn dictates the feasibility parameters of being ABLE to borrow, loan, exchange, store, etc.