Yeah well Pound is an idiot. And I don't mean in the elegant greek sense. The King's stamp is not immaterial -- quite the contrary. The power of the state, from which fiat money derives, makes money a real economic institution with real economic effects. In a malign sense, it is a device for facilitating indebtedness, typically to the state and to capital. In a positive sense, it facilitates exchange and real capital formation. It is not a "symbol system."
Nor is the state is not a conspiracy implying a counter-conspiracy. The state's use of money -- the respective interests of assorted elites in its use -- is as plain as day. Well, almost.
mbs