#Change your economic model

In a modern world, you just don't have cash, only card payments are accepted. All fiat money is just numbers in a computer and largely immune to replication in that style. The question is really how you get to electronic fiat currencies when you can't pass through commodity currency along the way.

The thing is that you can, but your model for what has value is different.

Gold and silver largely have value simply because of their scarcity, but if they can be easily replicated by a mage then they no longer have that value. A commodity will only have value if it has both reasonable scarcity and industrial value. Steel and aluminium become more valuable than gold because people consume them. You also end up trading in potatoes and eggs. Less portable but it doesn't matter if they're replicated as you still get your omelette.

It's not quite barter, but it ends up a lot closer than gold and silver coins.

(Anyway, everyone knows magically created gold disappears in the morning.)

Change your economic model

In a modern world, you just don't have cash, only card payments are accepted. All fiat money is just numbers in a computer and largely immune to replication in that style. The question is really how you get to electronic fiat currencies when you can't pass through commodity currency along the way.

The thing is that you can, but your model for what has value is different.

Gold and silver largely have value simply because of their scarcity, but if they can be easily replicated by a mage then they no longer have that value. A commodity will only have value if it has both reasonable scarcity and industrial value. Steel and aluminium become more valuable than gold because people consume them. You also end up trading in potatoes and eggs. Less portable but it doesn't matter if they're replicated as you still get your omelette.

It's not quite barter, but it ends up a lot closer than gold and silver coins.

(Anyway, everyone knows magically created gold disappears in the morning.)