Ron Paul has driven the gold standard back onto the nation's agenda--at least as a topic of discussion. Gold currency as an idea might appeal to anarchists and libertarians, who distrust any government intervention in the economy, but it's still a bad idea.
Gold is an inflexible currency; fiat money is infinitely expandable and contractible, depending upon the needs of the economy, which is why paper and central bank credit is preferred in modern economies. So, is there a conspiracy to revive gold? See my page on gold.
Gold was used as currency through the ages in Eurasia (but not in the Americas), because it was relatively rare and incorruptible. But it is also subject to hoarding, one of the factors in the Roman Empire's economic decline; Senators cornered the gold, leaving almost none in circulation, driving the Empire into bankruptcy and barter.
China would not have taken off if the world was on the gold standard; there would not have been enough money to buy its goods, because the amount of money available depends upon the stock of gold available. It cannot be easily expanded--unless, like the Spanish American Empire, a whole new continent's gold is discovered, and quickly brought to market. The overabundance of Spanish gold created inflation at home, and it imported all its goods, de-industrializing Spain as Reagan's strong dollar began de-industrializing the US.
Facing both inflation and recession right now, what could the US do if it were on the gold standard? Not much.
Gold is also a hedge against disaster, but Roman Senators easily lost theirs--to barbarian pillage--so its nature as incorruptible and valued inherently does have a downside: it's easily stolen if there is disastrous upheaval.
As far as conspiracy goes, obviously the first place we should look would be to what people and nations would gain from the dollar going back to the gold standard. It wouldn't be the US; it could be Russia. It might be gold brokers, mining companies. As to who are the interests behind this, we should at least to ask the question why.