Paper money was never supposed to be the money.

It was a receipt.

You deposited gold at a bank.
The bank gave you a note (federal reserve Note) that said:

"The bearer of this note may redeem it for X amount of gold."

That's all a dollar was. A claim (Federal Reserve note) ticket.

The paper had no value.
The gold,Silver in the vault did.
The paper(federal reserve) just made it easier to carry.

This system worked for centuries.
Every major currency was backed this way.
The British pound.
The French franc.
The US dollar.

Then, slowly, governments realized something:

If people trust the paper (Federal Reserve Note)
they never come for the gold,Silver
So they keep printed more notes than they had gold.
Then more.
Then more.

When too many people asked questions,
they closed the gold,silver,bitcoin window.

That was supposed to be temporary.

55 years later, the dollar is still backed by nothing
but trust. And that trust has come