Peter's Blog

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made a definitive statement during Tuesday’s Senate hearing, affirming that as long as he remains at the helm, the Fed will not develop its own digital currency. During his semiannual testimony on monetary policy and regulation, Powell was asked by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) if he would commit to forgoing […]

Peter’s back to recap the last week in markets and economic news. This episode starts with April’s dismal stock performance and also discusses Jerome Powell’s most recent appearance. Peter wraps up the episode by recounting the Bitcoin debate he participated in on Friday.

On Friday, Peter participated in an exhilarating debate over the merits of gold and Bitcoin. Professor of economics Nouriel Rabini joined Peter to debate Erik Voorhees and Anthony Scaramucci, two proponents of Bitcoin. They cover a lot of ground in their 2+ hour debate, so be sure to watch the full video on Peter’s youtube channel.

With the eventual introduction of central bank digital currency (CBDCs) now seemingly inevitable, there are a lot of directions central banks could take with their digital currency projects that would have dramatic implications for the price of gold.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has launched a digital payment system backed by physical gold. The RBZ rolled out its digital gold-backed token in April after successfully implementing a program to produce physical gold coins in 2022. On Oct. 5, the central bank announced that these gold-backed digital tokens could be used as a […]

Bills introduced in the Texas House and Senate would create a state-issued, gold-backed digital currency. Enactment of this legislation would create an option for people to transact business in sound money, set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money and create a viable alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

We recently reported that the Federal Reserve plans to launch a 12-week pilot program in partnership with several large commercial banks to test the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The US isn’t alone in experimenting with digital currency. India is working on developing a digital rupee and recently announced the second phase […]

Yesterday, an Israeli law went into effect banning the use of cash in business transactions over 6,000 NIS ($1,700). Private cash transactions can’t exceed 15,000 NIS ($4,360). This is yet another escalation in the “war on cash.”

We’ve written extensively about the “war on cash.” In a nutshell, governments would love to do away with cash in order to better track and control their citizens. There have been numerous moves closer to a cashless society in recent years, from capping ATM withdrawals to doing away with large-denomination bills. Last year, China launched […]

The People’s Bank of China was the first central bank to roll out a digital currency. The digital yuan recently got a boost when China’s biggest online retailer announced it has developed the first virtual platform to accept the Chinese digital currency. Digital currency is nothing more than a virtual banknote or coin that exists […]